December 2016 Former soldier had 9,000 indecent images of children on his laptop 1000’s of images of child sexual abuse were found on a laptop of a former soldier from Scunthorpe 10 months after he was convicted of a similar offence just one year ago Daniel Howard, 63, of Edgemere, admitted making indecent images of children using his Acer laptop which was discovered under a duvet in his bedroom when police attended on January 27 this year. He had been convicted in March last year of eight offences of making indecent images of children and another of possessing them between October 1, 2010 and April 5 2014. In March last year he received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and was given a 10-year sex offender prevention order. At Grimsby Crown Court he admitted three offences of making indecent images and a breach of the sex offender prevention order by using a laptop to access child pornography. Sentencing Howard to 20 months in prison, Judge Paul Watson QC said it was a “blatant and intentional breach of the suspended sentence.” He said the prison sentence would have a “disastrous effect on his life” as he would be homeless when he is released. Prosecuting Craig Lowe said more than 9,000 indecent images of children were found on the laptop when police checked his internet use. He said police discovered software that he had tried to use to shred the pornographic files of children as young as 18 months old. For Howard, Gordon Stables said his client had not begun his supervision on a sex offender treatment programme when police officers called at his address in January. He said: “It is something that has not been addressed yet.” He said he will lose his home and all his belongings because he cannot afford to store them while he is in prison and will only have the clothes he stood in when he is released. April 2015 Scunthorpe man escapes prison over indecent images of children POLICE found thousands of pictures of child abuse after raiding a former soldier’s home and searching his computer equipment, a court heard. Daniel Howard, 61, of Edgemere, Scunthorpe, admitted eight offences of making indecent images of children and another of possessing them between October 1, 2010 and April 5 last year. Tom Ledden, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that police investigated after a woman found many indecent images on a digital photo frame that had been used by Howard. Police “raided” his home and seized two laptops and two computer towers. They found 3,280 indecent images of children. Two bags of video cassettes were also found and there were 60 disks in a wallet under a sofa. One had 456 images on it set to music and two other similar ones had 1,077 and 77 pictures. Howard told police he made the collections out of boredom and claimed he was not attracted to children. Craig Lowe, mitigating, said Howard admitted the other disks that were not analysed by police contained similar images. He had not tried to blame others and had no previous convictions. “He has expressed remorse for what he has done,” said Mr Lowe. “He is ashamed and embarrassed by his actions.” Howard had served in the army, including in Ireland in 1972, where he was based in Londonderry during the Troubles and, during his four months of active service, three people he knew were shot and killed. “He catalogued indecent images of children as a hobby,” said Mr Lowe. “He has now moved on.” Unemployed Howard was given a one-year suspended prison sentence, a two-year supervision order, including a sex offender treatment programme, and a 10-year sexual offences prevention order. He was told to register as a sex offender for 10 years and must pay £425 costs.