York offender who catalogued heinous images of children jailed

YORK OFFENDER WHO CATALOGUED HEINOUS IMAGES OF CHILDREN JAILED

A SEX offender who categorised and catalogued photos of babies and young children suffering “brutal torture” and rape has been jailed.

Ian Willmott-Fruish searched the internet for images of tiny children being sexually abused to fend off depression, York Crown Court heard.

It was his second conviction for having indecent images of children.

When police raided his home in May 2019, they found thousands of illegal photos on his 37 computer devices.

The images included Category A images of brutal torture involving rape of young children and babies, with clear distress visible in these images.

His solicitor stated he had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome since his first conviction and that he categorised rather than viewed the images, focusing on cataloguing them rather than their content.

Willmott-Fruish would download images during episodes of depression and later stop upon realizing how disturbing they were.

Despite this, the judge emphasized he knew what he was doing was wrong, and he deliberately sought out illegal images.

Willmott-Fruish pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing indecent images, with police finding 1,731 Category A images, 1,443 of Category B, and 4,024 of the least serious category.

He was previously jailed in Bristol in 2005 for 18 months for similar offences, and was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.