CLIFTON MAN WITH 50 CONVICTIONS JAILED FOR CHILD ABUSE IMAGES
A sex offender with 50 previous convictions on his record is back behind bars after being caught with child abuse images of girls as young as five.Nottingham Crown Court heard how Richard Smith also made what prosecutor Louise Howard called “a myriad of searches” online for such images to satisfy his depraved desires.
At the time, the 36-year-old, of Clifton, was supposed to tell the police about any devices he had to access the internet, but chose not to, which breached an order made for past sexual offences.
The defendant, who wore a large crucifix in the dock from custody, showed visible disappointment that he would be staying in prison for the foreseeable future.
Jailing him for 20 months, Recorder Balraj Bhatia KC said: “You have a bad history in terms of antecedents (previous offences) and failure to comply with court orders.
They are designed to have consequences, particularly when there are further offences.
“Only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.
I would be failing in my public duty if I did not take this course of action.” Miss Howard said Smith, of Yewdale Close, has more than 50 previous court appearances for 112 offences and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order as part of a conviction for sexual assault in 2020.
She said on May 21, 2023, officers went to his home address after information was received that an IP address linked to him had been downloading child abuse pictures.
The prosecutor said: “It was examined and there were indecent images on there.
There were eight (of the most serious) category A, 10 category B, and 18 category C.
"An example of the category A was a girl aged 10 lying in bed (being raped by an adult).
Category B included an eight-year-old girl and category C included a seven-year-old girl.
“The children in the images were as young as five.
There had also been a myriad of search terms used.” Miss Howard said while he was on bail for those offences, officers again went to his address on April 20, this year, and found he had an iPhone 13, which should have been registered with them but wasn’t.
She said: “He told them it was registered to his partner, but it was actually his.” Smith pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and to breaching the terms of his sexual harm prevention order.
Nadir Prabatani, mitigating, said his client has been in custody since his second arrest and had pleaded guilty to all of the charges he faced.
He said: “There is a lengthy history of mental health, and he, himself, had been abused as a child.
"His partner has moved out of the address and has new accommodation.” As well as the jail term, the order will continue for another 10 years, the judge said.
