JONATHON COLLINGS RECEIVES SUSPENDED SENTENCE IN LIVERPOOL FOR DOWLOADI NG CHILD INDECENT IMAGES

In August 2017, Jonathon Collings, a 36-year-old man, was given a suspended prison sentence after admitting to downloading more than 300 indecent images of children onto his mobile phone. Judge David Aubrey, QC, sentenced him to 10 months in prison, suspended for 18 months. Liverpool Crown Court was told that police raided Collings' home on Stirling Crescent, Marshalls Cross, on February 9 of the previous year, following a search warrant related to suspicious online activity connected to an IP address. During the raid, authorities seized two mobile handsets, and forensic analysis revealed that on one of them, Collings had downloaded 343 indecent images of children. Prior to the forensic examination, Collings had voluntarily approached the police and confessed to downloading the images. Judge Aubrey told Collings, "The reason you were doing it is, regrettably, that you have an unhealthy interest in children. Let me also assist you in this regard. It is to be noted from the pre-sentence report that when you were viewing the images you did not at the time recognise that these children had been abused. Each and every image that you observed represented the sexual abuse of a child. The consequences of that sexual abuse is that they will suffer physical and psychological harm and by doing what you were doing you perpetuated the sexual abuse of each and every child." The judge emphasized that public safety would be better served if Collings received help from the probation service to address his underlying issues. As part of his sentence, he was ordered to participate in up to 40 days of rehabilitation and was granted a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. Additionally, Collings was required to register as a sex offender for 10 years. Prosecutor Chris Hopkins explained that Collings had also developed a habit of visiting nudist websites and conducting specific searches for indecent images of children, while communicating with others interested in exchanging such images. The forensic report, received in May 2017, took an "unduly long period of time without proper explanation," according to Mr. Hopkins. At the time of sentencing, Collings was living at the YMCA in St Helens; he pleaded guilty to three counts of downloading indecent images and one of possessing them. Defense lawyer Henry Riding highlighted that Collings had no prior convictions and could not explain his behavior. He noted that Collings had struggled with a severe alcohol addiction that rendered his life nearly unmanageable at the time but had since made significant progress in addressing his addiction. Mr. Riding stated, "He is determined to put that problem behind him and would be equally motivated to co-operate with the probation service." At the time of the offences, Collings was living with his mother, but he is now homeless and unemployed due to his drinking problem, added his lawyer.