STOKE-ON-TRENT SEX OFFENDER STEPHEN HASSALL JAILED AFTER RETURN FROM MUMBAI WITH OVER 2000 CHILD INDECENT IMAGES

In October 2017, Stephen Hassall, a known sex offender from Stoke-on-Trent, was sentenced to prison after being apprehended upon his return to the United Kingdom from abroad. The arrest followed a lengthy period during which Hassall had evaded justice after fleeing the country, and it marked a significant development in the ongoing investigation into his activities.

Authorities revealed that during a search of Hassall’s former residence in Goldenhill, police uncovered a disturbing collection of digital evidence. Specifically, more than 2,000 indecent images of children were found stored on a computer tower and a laptop seized from the property. These images depicted minors engaged in sexual acts or posed in sexually explicit manners, with some of the children as young as four years old. The images were categorized into different levels of severity, with 194 images classified as Category A, including seven moving images, indicating the most serious content. Additionally, there were 54 images in Category B, with one moving image, and 1,232 images in Category C, with two moving images.

When questioned initially, Hassall expressed his distaste for pornography involving women, describing it as ‘horrible’ and labeling the images of children as ‘disgusting’. However, he failed to attend a subsequent interview, prompting authorities to issue a warrant for his arrest. It was later established that Hassall had been at large from July 2015 until August 25, 2017. During this period, police tracked him to Mumbai, India, where he was preparing to fly back to the UK.

Hassall was detained upon his arrival in the UK and subsequently pleaded guilty to charges of making indecent images of children, covering the period from August 10, 2012, to July 14, 2015. The prosecution, led by Sara Haque, detailed the extent of the evidence during the sentencing hearing. She explained that the images included children as young as four and that there was evidence of deliberate searching and peer-to-peer sharing of the files, indicating a premeditated effort to access and distribute such material.

Police had initially visited Hassall’s Goldenhill Road home in 2015 as part of Operation Safenet. At that time, officers attempted to make contact but received no response. They observed Hassall looking out from an upstairs window and later saw him move to the rear of the property. When officers forced entry, they arrested him on the spot. The court was told that the images found on his devices represented a grave violation of the children’s innocence and well-being.

In sentencing, Recorder Andrew Easteal emphasized the severity of Hassall’s actions. He stated, “When the police attended your address, they seized a laptop and a computer tower. What they discovered was over 2,000 images of underage children engaged in various degrees of sexual acts or poses. The most serious of these are category A, and among those, there are depictions of children aged four. What you need to understand is that the responsibility for what those children have suffered is yours. Every bit as much as the people perpetrating the act. You provide their custom because you were willing to access it for your own sexual gratification without a second thought for the suffering of the children.”

As part of his sentence, Hassall was also subjected to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, aimed at protecting the public from any future offenses. His case underscores the ongoing efforts of law enforcement to combat child exploitation and the importance of vigilance in tracking down offenders who attempt to evade justice by fleeing abroad.