March 2012 35,000 pictures of children downloaded A WORCESTER businessman who downloaded more than 35,000 indecent images of children and also had a stash of drugs has been jailed for eight months. Colin Crossley was arrested after a tip-off from Thailand that he was interested in child pornography, prosecutor Charles Hardy told Worcester Crown Court. They found the pictures – ranging from the lowest end of the scale to the most serious at level five – on his two computers and three hard drives. Crossley, aged 60, of Halesowen Road, Cradley Heath, and formerly of Hillditch Lane, Hartlebury, pleaded guilty in September last year to possessing the indecent images and the drugs. Police found the drugs worth £400 in a metal briefcase when they raided his home and business premises. They included amphetamine, cannabis, the sedative GHB and the ‘date rape’ drug rohypnol. Mr Hardy said nearly 20,000 of the pictures and movies were at the lowest level but there were 6,034 at level four and 374 at level five. Crossley, a married man, said they were for personal use and had not been distributed. Richard Gray, in mitigation, said few of the images had been accessed in recent years. Crossley was a family man going through a difficult divorce and was physically and emotionally inadequate. Mr Gray said Crossley realised it was a shameful offence but he had tried to maintain integrity in his food supply business and six employees were dependent on him. Judge Robert Juckes said he had read a selection of references and a psychologist’s report. However, the judge rejected as bizarre a suggestion made in the pre-sentence report that Crossley claimed he was helping children by collecting the images and would hold a vigil and pray for them. He made a sexual offences prevention order banning Crossley from having contact with children under 16 for an indefinite period. He must also sign on the sex offenders register.