JOHN HAMILTON FROM WIDNES AND LIVERPOOL SENTENCED FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES

In April 2021, John Hamilton, a man with a troubling history linked to child exploitation, faced serious charges after authorities uncovered a significant collection of illegal images. Hamilton, who has residences in Widnes and Liverpool, was previously convicted in 2011 for possessing, downloading, and distributing indecent images of children, leading to a two-year prison sentence. Following his release, he was mandated to register as a sex offender and was subject to a 10-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO), which prohibited him from possessing any images of children under 16 unless with explicit permission from a parent or guardian of the child.

Despite these restrictions, Hamilton’s activities came under scrutiny again in November 2019. He contacted police to report that he had acquired a new mobile phone, providing the IMEI number for the device. During a subsequent investigation, officers visited him and examined the new phone, which appeared to be in satisfactory condition. However, when asked to produce his previous device, Hamilton handed over an Honor 6 phone that revealed disturbing content. On this device, officers discovered two photographs and a video depicting young girls approximately six years old, which Hamilton claimed he had received via WhatsApp. The phone was seized for further analysis.

The forensic examination uncovered a horrifying collection of images. The device contained 515 indecent images of children, along with an additional 690 non-indecent images of children under 16. Notably, the phone was equipped with a Virtual Private Network (VPN), a tool often used to mask online activity and conceal a user’s IP address and location. The investigation revealed a total of 243 Category A files, which are classified as the most serious and included explicit images of child rape. Among these were particularly disturbing images, such as one depicting the rape of a girl aged between two and four, and another showing the assault of two boys aged between two and three. There was also a very disturbing Category B image of a boy aged between 12 and 18 months, along with 243 Category B and 184 Category C files, all created between October 2017 and May 2019.

During police interviews, Hamilton initially denied any significant wrongdoing, providing two interviews in which he minimized his actions. However, after a third interview prompted by his own decision to 'admit everything,' he confessed to viewing thousands of such images over the years. He acknowledged downloading these files between 2016 and 2019, fully aware that he was breaching his court orders. Hamilton insisted that he never took the photos himself and claimed that his interest in the images was driven by boredom. He stated, “He stated that he looked at images out of boredom. He stated he was attracted to children but he would never hurt a child and he did not want to have sex with a child.”

Judge Thomas Teague, QC, presiding over the case, expressed his concern over the severity of the material found. He noted that if Hamilton had possessed videos of the nature described, the sentence would have been even more severe. Ultimately, Hamilton was sentenced to 18 months in prison for breaching his SOPO and possessing and downloading indecent images. Additionally, the court imposed a new 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered him to continue registering as a sex offender for the next decade, emphasizing the ongoing risk posed by his actions.