November 2014 Pervert found with child abuse images on computer escapes prison A computer user has been sent on a sex offenders course after being trapped by a police investigation into sinister websites where paedophiles share child abuse images. Philip Levett was traced after he exchanged images through so-called peer-to-peer internet sites and found to have more than 3,000 offensive items on his computer. He was spared jail after a judge heard how he has enrolled on a course to try to treat his addiction to pornography and has asked for more help from the probation service. Levett, 41, of Station Road, Bovey Tracey, admitted three offences of distributing indecent images of children, six of making or possessing them, and two of possessing extreme images. He was jailed for eight months, suspended for two years and ordered to attend the Internet Sex Offenders’ Treatment Programme as part of two years supervision by Judge Francis Gilbert, QC at Exeter Crown Court. The Judge told him: “I bear in mind that since your arrest you have done your best to break your addiction to indecent images, but nonetheless these are serious offences. “Deriving sexual pleasure from images of young children being abused sexually may not involve direct contact but if people like you did not download these images then children would not be abused to create them. “You have therefore contributed to the appalling experiences which they have had to endure and that is why these are serious offences.” Gareth Evans, prosecuting, said Levett was traced through a police inquiry codenamed Reward which targeted internet users who exchanged images on peer-to-peer sites. These are unregulated services on which subscribers can swap music or films but which are also used to distribute child abuse images by allowing one user access to material on other people’s computers. He said Levett was found with 107 images which fell into the worse category, showing adults raping or abusing children, and 3,298 at the two lower categories which include nudity and images of children taking part in sexual acts. William Parkhill, defending, said Levett’s arrest had made him realise he had a problem which he needed to address and on his own volition he made contact with an organisation which helps people deal with their inappropriate use of the internet.