Ryton man avoids jail after downloading vile child abuse images as a teen

RYTON MAN AVOIDS JAIL AFTER DOWNLOADING VILE CHILD ABUSE IMAGES AS A TEEN

A man has avoided jail after he was found with sexual abuse images of "very young children" downloaded as early as 2019.

Lewis Chapman, who was underage himself when he started downloading the vile material, continued into early adulthood.

The court heard that police seized his electronic devices when intelligence indicated he was downloading such images at his Ryton home.

A total of 26 abuse pictures, including seven classified as category A—which involves the most serious acts such as penetrative sexual activity—were discovered on his mobile phone.

Chapman, aged 21, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children at Newcastle Magistrates' Court.

District Judge Kate Meek stated, "The images did involve very young children, which aggravates the case." She further highlighted, "They involved category A images, which are the most serious.

In your case, you were 14 when this began, and for most of the time, you were under 18." The judge commented on Chapman's vulnerable background, noting, "You are a vulnerable young person.

I don’t doubt that you became involved in these chatrooms and this world at a very early age when nobody at that age should be, and you were taken advantage of.

You had a disruptive childhood." Chapman, who has no previous convictions, was sentenced to an 18-month community order, fined £250, ordered to pay £250 in costs, a £114 victim surcharge, and required to sign the sex offenders register for five years.

The police action followed an investigation that involved analysis of devices seized from his address, with forensics confirming the presence of the images.

The prosecution was led by Paul Coulson, while Steven Linsdell-Bell defended Chapman, emphasizing that he still was a youth during most of the offense and naive about the material he was downloading.