July 2016 Shame of pervert who downloaded indecent images of children A man who downloaded thousands of indecent images of children has avoided jail. A raid at the Macclesfield home of Leslie Etherington, 60, uncovered 248 images in category A, the most serious, 454 in category B and 1,575 in category C. Officers also found three videos of extreme images of a sexual nature. Etherington, of Barracks Square, admitted three charges of making indecent images of children, possession of indecent images of children and possession of an extreme pornographic image. Judge Roger Dutton sentenced him to eight months in prison suspended for two years but warned him any repeat and he would be locked up. Emma Smythe, prosecuting, said: “Police received information regarding a twitter account which had uploaded 20 indecent images and traced a connecting email and IP address to the defendant. “In October 2015 police searched the house and found computers, laptops, hard drives and disks. In police interview Etherington denied having a sexual interest in children but admitted uploading the images because he believed the girls were 18 years or older. “On one hard disk, a forensic search found 2,277 images and three movies dating back to 2002. Etherington admitted to police he had been ‘off his head’ on medication and alcohol at the time.” Julian Farley, defending, said Etherington’s offending was born out of loneliness, boredom, illness, drink and a lack of personal relationships. He said: “The majority of the images were downloaded between 2002 and 2010 on a computer which broke. The more recent images in 2014 and 2015 were in small numbers when his bipolar, drinking and depression was at its worst. Sentencing Judge Dutton said: “It’s plain that much of it is historic and there is no suggestion that you shared this with anyone else or had any contact with children. For each image there is a victim, a child.” Etherington was given a supervision order with a rehabilitation activity for 25 days and must sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years. June 2016 Pervert admits possession of child abuse images Leslie Thomas Etherington, 60, of Barracks Square, Macclesfield, admitted one charge of possessing indecent photographs of a child, three charges of making indecent photographs of a child and one charge of possession an extreme pornographic image. He was bailed to attend Chester Court on July 1 for sentencing