GORDON THAIN OF WREXHAM HAD HIS CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SENTENCE REDUCED BY COURT OF APPEAL

In September 2012, Gordon Thain, now residing in South Hetton, was involved in a legal case concerning possession of indecent images of children. Previously, in November 2007, Thain, aged 26 from Wrexham, had his prison sentence shortened after being convicted of possessing over 2,000 disturbing images of minors.

Initially sentenced to three years in prison, Thain had his sentence reduced to two years and three months by the Court of Appeal in London. The court acknowledged that Thain’s guilty plea in June had not been adequately credited.

The court revealed that Thain was found with 2,294 images of children on his computer, including more than 50 considered to be of the most serious classification, and 11 videos depicting abuse.

Thain was arrested in 2006 after his girlfriend reported that she had caught him viewing images of children being abused. During police interviews, he admitted to downloading hundreds of such images between April 2004 and November 2005. In June, he pleaded guilty at Mold Crown Court to multiple counts of making and possessing indecent images of children.

The Court of Appeal was informed that Thain expressed remorse and was unlikely to re-offend. Judge Richard Brown, sitting with Lord Justice Hughes and Mr Justice Wyn Williams, stated that Thain’s original sentence reflected a starting point of four and a half years, which was deemed excessive. Consequently, because the new sentence is below two and a half years, Thain will now be on the sex offender register for a period of 10 years instead of indefinitely.