Elland man jailed for child exploitation and indecent images

ELLAND MAN JAILED FOR CHILD EXPLOITATION AND INDECENT IMAGES

A former classroom assistant who downloaded nearly 100 movies showing youngsters being sexually abused has been jailed for eight months.

Elland man Robert Souter, 25, lost his job at a Calderdale primary school after his arrest last year and a court heard that as well as downloading films and indecent images onto a MacBook computer he also had photographs of schoolchildren wearing bathing suits on his iPhone.

Although the iPhone images were not indecent, Bradford Crown Court heard that Souter had found them by searching Facebook and Instagram and Judge Roger Thomas QC described Souter’s possession of those images as “a disturbing background” to his case.

Souter, of Dewsbury Road, admitted possessing 90 indecent movies at the most serious level together with more than 120 other images and movies.

After his arrest he told police he was very sorry for what he had done and described himself as “a hypocrite” because he should have known better.

Solicitor advocate Mark Watterson, for Souter, said he was a 25-year-old man without any previous convictions who had understandably lost his employment.

Souter was sentenced alongside 47-year-old Brian Gillatt, of Maltings, Hipperholme, who was also arrested last year by officers acting on information received.