November 2011 Man had indecent images of children A 41-YEAR-OLD man has admitted possessing 234 indecent images of children — one of which was a cartoon depicting a sexual act. Earlier this month, defendant Gary Haige, of Quarry Road, Treboeth, also pleaded guilty to 15 counts of making an indecent image of a child when he appeared before city magistrates. The court heard information was received from Interpol in Luxembourg in 2009 that child abuse material was located on a server. The subscriber was found to be Haige. He was arrested and on July 14 was found to have 234 indecent images. On a scale on 1-5, 5 is considered the most serious. The court heard the cartoon pseudo image, was deemed level four. The rest were level one. When Haige appeared earlier this month, prosecutor Linda Baker, said: “Sixty-seven were images of child abuse.” The offences where Haige made an indecent image of a child happened in February 2010 and May and July this year. The offences happened at the same Swansea address — not where he currently lives. Prosecutor Andrew Smith, said Haige made full admissions in interview following his arrest, and said he committed the offences for his own gratification. Haige who was represented in court by John Clayton, has no previous convictions. Mr Clayton said his client, who had no recollection of the cartoon image, but pleaded guilty because it was with the other images, had been dismissed from his employment as a result of the offences. Presiding magistrate Carol Green, sentencing, said: “The court views these offences very seriously and we need to ensure the protection of the public, especially where children are concerned.” Haige was sentenced to a three-year community order with supervision. As part of the order Haige must undertake the Community Sex Offender Programme. Mrs Green said that with the protection of the public in mind, the court felt that more would be done via the order to rehabilitate Haige and prevent further offending, than if he were given a short spell in custody. Haige is also subject to a Sex Offenders Prevention order and will be on the sex offenders registerfor five years.
