jonathan overland Child Sexual Abuser

December 2017 Walton-on-the-Naze pensioner snared by Essex Police told officers he ‘wasn’t into children’ A pensioner who downloaded indecent images of children and searched for incest images online was snared following a police operation, a court heard.

The home of 72-year-old Jonathan Overland was searched by officers after they received intelligence that someone at his address had viewed illegal content online.

But in addition to having a horde of vile photographs depicting child abuse, police discovered an image on Overland’s hard drive of a woman’s breasts being subjected to injury.

Overland, of Butchers Lane, Walton-on-the-Naze, pleaded guilty to four charges and came before Chelmsford Crown Court to be sentenced on Tuesday, December 12.

Outlining the facts of the case, prosecutor Charlotte Davison told the court how police executed a search warrant at Overland’s home and seized several electronic devices on August 9 last year.

She said: “Indecent images of children were found on one of those items.

“There was one Category A image of an 11-year-old female.

“Three Category B images of female children aged between 10 and 14.

“There was 1 Category C image of a female child between the ages of 10 and 14.

“He did go on to say make admissions to using file sharing software to search for and download adult pornography.” A search of another device revealed the horrific image of the adult woman which was ultimately classed as being extreme pornography – possession of which is illegal in the UK.

Fine names discovered on the former transport manager’s devices also included “incest” and “12-year-old girl”.

“He said he had never seen titles with ‘PTHC’ or ‘pre-teen hardcore,” Ms Davison added.

During his second interview, Overland told officers that he would stop downloads if he previewed them and found they contained youths as he was “really not into children”.

Representing the defendant, Peter Barlex asked Judge Jonathan Seely to take into account Overland’s age, previous good character and difficult personal circumstances.

Mr Barlex explained that the ill health of his client’s wife and her need for an operation in November led him to being in the crown court rather than in the magistrates’.

“It was with that in mind that he elected to be dealt with in this court,” he added.

“It’s had quite an effect on the whole family.” Although Mr Overland and his wife separated after the allegations came to light, Mr Barlex commented he would soon move back into the family home.

Handing down sentence, Judge Seely told Overland that the “relatively small” number of images found did not negate from the seriousness of his crimes.

He said: “Offenders sometimes view offending such as this is a victimless type of offending.

“Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Victims of this type of offending will often suffer long term psychological damage.

“It’s an extremely serious offence.” For the three counts of making indecent images of children and one charge of possessing extreme pornography, Overland was sentenced to six months in prison, to be served concurrently, but suspended for 18 months.

He was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which will last for seven years and must complete 30 rehabilitative activity days.

Overland was also ordered to pay £500 in prosecution costs, which Judge Seely felt was proper considering his conduct in having the case sent to the crown court.

“People have to take the consequences of their actions,” the judge added.

“It’s not all about you.”