FARTAM BASSIRI JAILED IN WARRINGTON FOR DISTRIBUTING CHILD AND ANIMAL ABUSE IMAGES
A man named Fartam Bassiri, a father of three from Warrington, was sentenced after being found with a disturbing collection of child and animal abuse images at his home.Bassiri, aged 46, attempted to justify his actions by claiming he shared the illicit files out of "disgust" and insisted he had no sexual interest in children.
The police uncovered on his laptop 30 indecent images, including 11 categorised as the most serious, such as child rape material, along with videos and stills involving animals.
During a raid in December 2018, officers discovered eight videos among the Category A images, which are linked to child rape, as well as two videos from Category B and one from Category C.
There were also two extreme animal pornography images and six videos of a similar nature.
Prosecutor Mike Stephenson explained that "some images were automatically loaded onto another piece of equipment, there was some element of duplication." One of the videos involved footage of two boys engaging in sexual acts with a donkey, while another showed two 12-year-old girls performing sex acts, which Bassiri sent to a doctor in Germany.
He also transmitted a video depicting a woman and two boys aged between five and seven, with a smaller child present, to an address in Georgia in October 2018.
The same recipient received the video involving the two girls and the donkey in December.
Bassiri, who lives on Keyes Close, Birchwood, admitted to charges of downloading, distributing, and possessing indecent images of children, along with possessing extreme pornography.
He did not have any previous convictions.
His defense argued that he received the images "without request" via a group chat from other Iranian nationals, and highlighted his employment as a driver for a pharmaceutical firm.
They also pointed out that Bassiri has been married for 15 years and is supporting three sons, as his wife does not work.
His lawyer mentioned Bassiri's status as an asylum seeker, explaining he faced political persecution in his home country, where his younger brother remains imprisoned.
The court heard from a pre-sentence report that Bassiri expressed remorse and shame, and that the risk of reoffending appeared low.
However, Judge David Swinnerton condemned Bassiri’s actions, stating, "You not only downloaded that but you shared it." He criticized Bassiri for claiming he distributed the files out of disgust, noting, "You didn't just post it once.
You distributed it on three separate occasions—this is in addition to downloading 30 images." The judge emphasized, "That was not what you were doing here.
You know.
You have expressed some remorse and shame, but you know this material, especially sharing it, is deeply wrong.
The starting point for sharing is three years." Considering Bassiri's family responsibilities and his low perceived risk of future offenses, Judge Swinnerton sentenced him to 20 months in prison, ordered him to register as a sex offender, and to be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years.
After sentencing, Bassiri attempted to speak with an interpreter and tried to negotiate with the judge, claiming he did not understand the criminality: "I really really don't know this is a crime and I wouldn't know that by sending this to somebody else to show someone disgusting matter is going to cause me this problem." The judge responded firmly, "You have not yet been ready to face up to why you were looking at and distributing these images." Cheshire Police declined to release a mugshot of Bassiri, citing their criteria for such requests and stating, "On this occasion it has been decided, after taking everything into account, not to issue a mugshot."
