RICHARD MORRIS FROM BOURNEMOUTH JAILED FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES
A well-known sex offender from Bournemouth has been sentenced to prison after being found in possession of an alarming number of indecent images of children.Richard Simon Morris, aged 59, appeared before Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday, November 29, 2024, where he pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of minors.
The court handed down a sentence of two years and eight months behind bars, coupled with an extended license period of an additional 18 months to monitor his conduct post-release.
His criminal activities came to light following a police visit on Wednesday, June 28, 2023.
Officers, including an offender manager and a colleague, arrived at Morris’s residence in Bournemouth, where he is registered as a sex offender and is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
During the visit, the officers requested to examine his mobile phone.
Morris initially produced a device different from the one he had been seen using moments earlier.
When confronted, he presented the other device, which officers then inspected.
It was during this examination that the officers identified what appeared to be indecent images of children stored on the device.
Following this discovery, Morris was promptly arrested, and multiple electronic devices were seized for further investigation.
Despite being released on bail, police returned to his Bournemouth home on August 23, 2023.
During this subsequent visit, a thorough inspection of his mobile phone revealed additional suspected indecent images.
The investigation uncovered a staggering total of over 1,500 such images, categorized into different severity levels.
Among these, 282 images were classified as Category A, indicating the most serious content, while 446 images fell into Category B.
The remaining 811 images were designated as Category C, with some being accessible and others inaccessible to the user.
Detective Constable Phillip Riggs, who is part of the Paedophile Online Investigation Team, commented on the case, stating: “Richard Morris is a persistent offender who continued to illegally access indecent images despite being a registered sex offender and the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
His actions demonstrate a clear lack of remorse for his previous offending or the sanctions imposed on him by the courts.”
