August 2013 Pervert lorry driver had 45,000 child abuse pictures and sneakily took photos of children A PAEDOPHILE who possessed more than 45,000 indecent images of children and covertly took pictures and a video of young girls, has been jailed for 32 months. Lorry driver Joseph Marsden kept the images on three laptops, a computer and camcorder, Bolton Crown Court heard. But he was caught in March last year when police visited his home in Second Avenue, Heaton, after receiving intelligence about indecent images being uploaded. “The tower computer was switched on at the time and there were images of naked children visible on the monitor,” said Alexandra Simmonds, prosecuting. Marsden, aged 59, immediately admitted downloading the pictures. “He said he had a problem and had been doing it for about two or three years,” she said. She added that he told officers he knew viewing indecent photographs and videos of young girls, mainly aged between seven and 11, was wrong but justified it to himself because the images already existed. But when police checked Marsden’s camcorder they found he had also secretly filmed young girls, dressed in shorts and vests, and zoomed in on their private parts. And on his mobile phone were nine photographs of a child, aged between eight and 11, taken without her knowledge when her underwear was exposed. Marsden pleaded guilty to 21 counts of possessing indecent images, one charge of making an indecent image and two counts of possessing indecent photographs for show. Indecent photographs of children are rated from level one to level five, with the latter category being the most serious and including images of sadistic behaviour. Miss Simmonds said Marsden possessed 141 of the most serious level five images, 74 at level 4, 115 level three and 121 level two with the remaining 44,749 images being at level one. He was also attempting to distribute a level five and a level 1 image to another person he was corresponding with via an internet chatroom. Jane Deakin, defending, said Marsden, who had no previous criminal record, was seeking help for his behaviour. “He is willing and wants to work with the relevant agencies in order to deal with the problem,” she said. Judge Timothy Stead jailed Marsden for 32 months, telling him: “Those with a sexual interest in children — paedophiles in other words — must understand there is no hiding place for them when they indulge in their activities. “The internet is not somewhere where they can expect to have what they do kept secret. “The proliferation of cases of this kind before the courts causes great public concern and anxiety, and rightly so.” Marsden was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely and a sex offences prevention order was made banning him from having unsupervised contact with girls under aged 16, living in the same house as a girl under 18 except with social services permission and placing restrictions on his internet use, including a prohibition on storing digital images. He is also barred from working with children or vulnerable adults.