LLOYD JAMES CHRISTOPHER DITCHBURN SENTENCED IN CARLISLE FOR REPEATED SEX OFFENSES
A convicted sex offender, Lloyd James Christopher Ditchburn, used specialized software to hide his activity on his phone and downloaded illegal images of children, Carlisle Crown Court heard.Ditchburn's troubling history includes a 2014 juvenile conviction for distributing indecent images of minors, and a 2020 conviction for creating further inappropriate images and outraging public decency through an offence known as 'up-skirting.' On September 1, 2021, during a routine meeting with his probation officer and a detective constable responsible for risk monitoring, prosecutor Brendan Burke explained, police asked to examine Ditchburn’s phone.
It was immediately apparent that he was running incognito software.
This was a violation of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) previously imposed for his past crimes.
Additionally, Ditchburn, aged 24 and residing on Vulcans Lane, Workington, was found to be using social media platforms aimed at children, which have no age restrictions, in breach of his SHPO.
Initially, he claimed he had ‘accidentally’ activated incognito mode.
However, he then made full admissions, stating that police monitoring software had crashed on his phone, giving him the confidence to proceed with illegal activities, including installing the incognito software.
He revealed that after the monitoring software reactivated, he had found ways to disable it and admitted using the software to access a social media group called ‘schoolgirls 12 to 18.’ Ditchburn further confessed to distributing and exchanging images of children, with police charges including two breaches of his SHPO and making illegal images.
He also admitted to downloading two indecent images of children, categorized as Category A—the most serious—and eight images in Category C.
In his defense, Anthony Parkinson stated that Ditchburn had been in custody since September but had not yet begun rehabilitation efforts due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although he was willing to engage.
However, Judge Nicholas Barker highlighted that previous attempts at offering help had not been successful and sentenced Ditchburn to 32 months in prison.
The judge remarked, “It is clear to me that you have an underlying and deeply unhealthy attitude to children as objects of sexual desire.” As part of his sentence, Ditchburn was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life.
