March 2011 Leatherhead man with 19,000 indecent underage pictures jailed A PAEDOPHILE who admitted possessing more than 19,000 indecent images of children has been sentenced to six months in prison. Luke Usher-Somers, of Church Street, Leatherhead, appeared at Guildford Crown Court facing 28 charges of making, possessing and distributing the images over the internet. The 28-year-old churchgoer, who lived with his parents and frequently did voluntary work, was described as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character by his own lawyer. Jill Beale, prosecuting, described how police raided Usher-Somers’ parents home on April 17 last year, seizing three computers. She said: “He was on the computer at the time and made an admission that he had secreted the images so they wouldn’t be discovered.” Officers discovered thousands of indecent images of children, including 435 from the most severe category five. Usher-Somers downloaded indecent images and saved them on his computer, which the law counts as “making” them. He was not accused of directly taking any of the photographs. There was also evidence he distributed at least three images over the internet using GigaTribe, a file-sharing system, although no money was involved. Ms Beale said: “He chatted to find out what people’s interests were, then when he had developed a measure of trust he would begin sending images.” But Keith Goodhand, defending, produced a collection of character references that painted the picture of a shy, withdrawn, but community-minded young man. “You have someone who may well be described as a Jekyll and Hyde,” he said. “There is clearly a deep character flaw. It may be thought reading between the lines that there is an addictive, compulsive personality.” Mr Goodhand also revealed the defendant had attended a treatment course to deal with his offending since being arrested, which he paid for himself. He said: “That was not window-dressing, that was a genuine effort to help himself and the wider community.” Judge Michael Addison sentenced Usher-Somers to six months’ imprisonment and passed a five-year sex prevention order barring him from paid or voluntary work with children. He also placed the defendant on the sex offenders register and ordered that three computers be forfeited and destroyed. He said: “This case is so serious only a custodial sentence is justified. “If people didn’t use images in the way you were using them, then other people wouldn’t make them and ultimately it is real children that are being abused.” But Mr Addison admitted the sentence was softer than guidelines suggest for this kind of case. He said: “I am aware the sentence I am about to impose probably deviates from the guidelines as it’s not as long as the sentence they are suggesting.” He gave the defendant’s guilty pleas, remorse and life circumstances as mitigating factors.