July 2009 Man downloaded sex images of children, aged 3 A man who downloaded indecent images of children as young as three years old onto his computer has been handed a three year community order. John Riches, 25, of Aldwych Close, Burnham-on-Sea, pleaded guilty to 11 charges of making indecent images of children. Nicholas Fridd, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court the offences took place between January 1, 2008 and March 5, 2009. The images were found on a computer Riches shared with an ex-partner when they lived in Weston-super-Mare. The ex-girlfriend discovered a folder named Porn and one called Bleh, which she examined and found to contain child porn and so she immediately informed police. Mr Fridd said detectives seized the PC and sent it off for forensic analysis, where six “category four” indecent movies were found. Category four shows sexual activity between adults and children. This is the second worst kind of graded image, on a scale given between one and five, with five being the rarest, involving torture and children. Mr Fridd told the court that two further CDs were later discovered containing folders full of porn and were seized from the home on February 11. These were examined and contained some 40 indecent images of children. As a result Riches was arrested on March 5 and taken to Weston Police station for interview. Mr Fridd said Riches told police he was curious as many celebrities had been in trouble for child porn and he “wanted to find out what it was all about”. He said the images had been downloaded from internet sites. He said he would scroll through them looking for titles such as “underage girls”. Mr Fridd added that Riches said he was not seeking to obtain any sexual pleasure from the images. John Weatherall, defending, said his client was a sensitive man who had had a difficult childhood and found it impossible to open up to others. He said he felt “utterly stupid” about the offence and wanted to address his problems. Judge Michael Longman said Riches should be supervised for three years, go on a sex offender’s programme, register as a sex offender for five years and pay £320 court costs.