January 2013 Man jailed for taking indecent photographs of children A FORMER university student has been jailed for 18 months for making and taking indecent photographs of young children. Police found hundreds of images on Gavin Charlton’s computer after suspicion was raised about his activities. He admitted eight counts of making indecent images and five of taking indecent images. His barrister Dan Cordey told Teesside Crown Court said the criminal matters had hung over him “like a black cloud”. He said: “This is a stain on his character. Prior to this he was a young man of 24 with hitherto good character. “He has got a problem and he is beginning to acknowledge that.” Mr Cordey said the 174 images were at the lower end of the scale and suggested the judge in the case, Howard Crowson, could suspend a jail sentence on him because of the time it had taken to come to court, his good character and early guilty plea. But that plea fell on deaf ears with the judge jailing him for 18 months. Charlton, 24, who previously lived on Teesside, but now lives in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was made subject to a sexual offences prevention order and also told he would have to register his details with the police for the next ten years.