November 2002 Convicted sex offender jailed for six months for storing indecent images of children on a home computer Philip Muse, of Hall Court, Brotherton, told officers about the sick pictures – totalling 354 – during a police visit to his house, Selby magistrates heard on Friday. Presiding magistrate Janet Child told Muse: “Your sexual exploitation of children via the Internet is viewed as abhorrent by this Bench. “By your own words, you are feeding your addiction to child pornography. Children are being abused in order to gratify your urges to view these images. “Despite the Probation Service’s assertion you are not a risk to children in your locality, this Bench has a responsibility to protect all children. “Even though you have previous convictions for this type of offence and your name is on the sex offenders’ register, this has not prevented you from offending.” Mrs Child added if it had not been for his admission to the police, Muse would have been sent to Crown Court where a considerably longer sentence would have been imposed. Prosecutor Emma Pearson said Muse had downloaded shots depicting mainly young girls in various stages of undress. He had made a full and frank admission to the police and was co-operative when interviewed. The court heard how the 51-year-old is on the Sexual Offenders’ Register after being convicted of taking indecent photographs of a young child. He was sentenced to 18 months at Bradford Crown Court in May 2000. Muse pleaded guilty to possessing indecent photographs of children between October 20 2001 and April 23 2002. Mitigating, Linda Woods said Muse had told police about this serious lapse in his behaviour on a routine visit to his home. She said he is most anxious to conquer his addiction and informed the police so he could get help. Mrs Woods added: “He has suffered in his neighbourhood since press reports of his first appearance in court. His worst fears have come true but he felt the lapse outweighed the adverse effects. “There was no physical contact with a child involved – the only danger is these images are available on the Internet and he was able to take advantage of them. “He has lost everything but the fight to conquer his problem.” Magistrates read an all-options pre-sentence report and a letter from Muse before reaching their decision. They also ordered the forfeiture of his computer and the destruction of images on the hard-drive.