March 2014 Former sailor had vile child abuse images – Supervision order for 18 months given AN ex-navy serviceman convicted of making about 850 indecent images of children has been spared jail. Melvyn Evans, 57, used search terms which led him to websites devoted to indecent images of children. One of the counts against him related to a child aged between about 18 months and two years old. Portsmouth Crown Court heard that although he did not click on or save the images, they automatically saved on his computer. Now Evans has been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years after being found guilty of six counts of making indecent images of a child following a trial. The court heard many of the images were classed at level one – the lowest level of indecency. However 100 images were level three, 122 were rated at level four and two were at level five – the most serious category. The court heard Evans, from Portsmouth, who served in the navy for 33 years, was caught after terms he used in August 2012 were flagged up via the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency. Evans, who had no previous convictions, was put under supervision for 18 months. He was ordered not to use a computer or device that is internet-enabled without prior approval of a supervising officer. Evans was told not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under 16 without approval from a supervising officer. He was told to pay £2,000 costs, given a five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years. Addressing Evans, Susan Evans QC, sentencing, said: ‘You did not click on any of these images or save them. What happened is that they were “auto saved” in the computer cache because you had brought them up on the computer. ‘The web pages themselves were extremely unpleasant and contained indecent material, some of which included very young children. Although you are plainly in denial, it’s clear to me that you do have a sexual interest in children.’