PAUL LARKIN JAILED IN AYLESBURY FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES

In April 2003, Paul Larkin, a 48-year-old resident of Little Kingshill, was sentenced to two months in prison after police discovered child pornography on his home computer. Larkin appeared at Aylesbury Crown Court on Wednesday, where he was convicted on 20 counts of making indecent photographs of children, spanning from July 1997 to April 2002.

During an earlier hearing, Larkin admitted to all 20 charges. Prosecutor Amjad Malik explained that the investigation was prompted after police seized a total of 1,456 indecent images from three different locations—namely a desktop computer, a laptop, and a CD.

The court was informed that only a small portion of these images depicted children, but those that were found belonged to more severe categories of indecency. At the time of his arrest, Larkin told police that the images on a CD had been copied from a friend's disk and remarked that if he had considered the nature of the downloaded material more carefully, he would have erased them.

Legal counsel highlighted that reports indicated Larkin showed 'appropriate empathy' towards the distress and harm caused to children by such abuse; however, he was still classified as a low-risk offender. When the judge, Roger Connor, was asked to consider a suspended sentence, he noted that most of the charges were in the more serious categories and described them as 'particularly nasty.'

Judge Connor stated, 'Sadly, that is all too common, and notwithstanding the relatively low number of high-level indecent photographs, I take the view that this is a case that passes the custody threshold.'

Larkin was sentenced to two months in prison, to be served concurrently. The judge also ordered that, upon his release, Larkin must register as a sex offender for a period of seven years.