DAVID PARSONS SENTENCED IN CARDIFF FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND PUBLIC URINATION PHOTOGRAPHS

In December 2020, David Parsons, aged 38, was involved in a disturbing case involving child abuse images and inappropriate photographs of teenagers in public toilets. Parsons was found to possess hundreds of indecent images of young children and had shared thousands of such pictures online with other paedophiles. The material included films featuring children between six months and 12 months old. Authorities also discovered images Parsons took himself of teenage boys urinating in public toilets, some at the Cardiff City Stadium.

During a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday, it was revealed that Parsons' partner, James Carlyon, also possessed indecent images of children, the youngest being just six months old. Prosecutor Byron Broadstock recounted that police executed a search warrant on April 9 at Forest View, Fairwater, the residence of Parsons and Carlyon. Parsons reportedly acknowledged their presence, stating, 'you’re going to find images.'

Officers seized two mobile phones belonging to each defendant, as well as a laptop from Carlyon’s home in Quakers Yard, Merthyr Tydfil. On Parsons’ phone, investigators found 87 images and four movies classified as Category A, 83 images and six movies in Category B, and 703 images plus one movie in Category C. The phone also contained links to storage services and active links with images and videos stored within the notes app.

The court heard that Parsons engaged in conversations with others who shared similar interests, discussing the images they possessed and sought, with Parsons offering to forward images to others. These exchanges included the distribution of significant quantities of illegal material, notably 1,816 movies and two images of Category A, 1,731 movies and eight images of Category B, and 396 movies alongside 40 images of Category C.

One disturbing quote from Parsons during the conversations was, 'I have often thought about getting a runaway street kid for sex.'

Authorities also uncovered eight images taken without the teenagers’ knowledge of them urinating in public toilets—one taken in Bristol on December 6, 2019, and another at the Cardiff City Stadium on January 31 of the current year.

Carlyon’s mobile contained 51 Category A images and 176 movies, 43 images and 38 movies in Category B, 82 images and nine movies of Category C, plus one image and one movie of extreme pornography and a prohibited image. Authorities also found images of clothed teenage boys taken covertly at a retail park in Merthyr Tydfil where Carlyon worked, although these were not courts of charge.

Parsons pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images, distribution of such images, and voyeurism. It was noted that he had a prior conviction from 2011 for possessing indecent images of children.

Carlyon, also of Forest View, Fairwater, admitted to possessing indecent images, images of extreme pornography, and prohibited images of children.

Judge Michael Fitton QC sentenced Parsons to three years in prison and issued a sexual harm prevention order. Addressing Parsons’ depraved conduct, the judge stated, 'The total picture adds to portraying a man who is not just interested in paedophilic images but an obsession with it, and your obsession had led you to taking photographs of other people in public places in the act of urination, and sharing it. You are a man who has such a depraved outlook there’s no question of any means of dealing with you other than a custodial sentence.'

Regarding Carlyon, the judge commented, 'There are features of your conduct which show a shared interest and common view. The circumstances in which you have been looking together is relevant to how your own thinking and conduct has been degraded. If you continue or reestablish a relationship with the defendant and find yourself in court again for similar offences, you will be going to prison. If you move on from that relationship and take the opportunity I am giving you, you have the opportunity to move on with your life.' Carlyon was sentenced to eight months imprisonment suspended for two years, with a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.