December 2011 Judge spares pervert from prison sentence A 48-YEAR-OLD man from Knutsford who downloaded more than 12,000 indecent images of children has been spared a stint in prison. David Brown, who now lives in Riverside Close, Warrington, was found in possession of the images after the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency raided his former Knutsford home in Helena Close after a tip-off from Interpol. Warrington Crown Court heard on Thursday that when police took away his laptop and two hard drives, he told them he was responsible for any indecent images found on them. Jane Morris, prosecuting, said: “He had been sourcing material from December 2009 to address childhood memories. He admitted actively searching for this material.” Brown had triggered the interest of Interpol after accessing an online forum. And when his computers were seized, officers found images ranging from one to five – the most serious – on the scale of indecency and five videos at level four. The court heard Brown was of previous good character and was highly motivated and willing to give his full commitment to any potential courses. The offences had been committed from December 2009 to May 2010. Kim Halsall, defending, said: “I know there is a large number of images and a large number are level one. “He accepts there were a huge number of level three and four and to a lesser extent level five images. “He is appalled and disgusted by his actions and he has sought treatment. There is absolutely no possibility of offending in the future.” Sentencing him to an eight month sentence, suspended for two years, Judge David Hale said: “There may be a motivation for looking at some of this material but it cannot be an excuse for keeping videos. “Somewhere in the world, those children were abused to get these images so you could get them for your tawdry ends.” Brown was also given a two year supervision order, told to go on the Northumbria sex offenders course, told to pay £1,200 costs, ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years and banned from working with children.