STEPHEN WILLIAMS FROM FERRYHILL SENTENCED FOR CHILD PORN OFFENSES IN COUNTY DURHAM
| Red Rose Database
Ferryhill Child Sexual Abuser
In August 2011, Stephen Paul Williams, a father of two from Ferryhill, County Durham, who was scheduled to start a university teaching course the following month, pleaded guilty to 17 charges of possessing indecent images of children.
Williams, 40 years old, had previously been employed as a night manager at Asda but saw his career aspirations shattered after police discovered 64 images of child pornography on his home computer.
During the hearing, Recorder Darren Preston sentenced Williams to eight months in jail, but this was suspended for two years. Additionally, Williams will be on the sex offenders’ register for ten years and is prohibited from working with children.
Prosecutor Don McFaul explained that police apprehended Williams following an incident involving a hacked legitimate website, buildarecipe.co.uk, in 2008, which was used to host indecent images of children. The offensive content remained online for 18 hours and was accessed by 2,223 users.
McFaul told the court, “Police arrested Williams at his home in Lanark Terrace on January 16. He admitted to 17 charges of possessing child porn.”
Williams downloaded 64 images, including 59 classified as level one (least serious), one at level two, three at level three, and one at level four, with level five being the most serious.
His defense representative, Zoe Passfield, stated that Williams had “dabbled” in viewing child pornography but quickly recognized the gravity of his actions. She described the offenses as “historic,” noting they occurred in early 2009, with the last viewed images in April 2009. She also mentioned that at the time, Williams was suffering from depression, excessive drinking, and health issues.
Ms Passfield added, “He was appalled and sickened by his actions,” and emphasized that Williams had since attempted to reform his life, even earning the title of student of the year in a previous college course.
In delivering his sentence, Recorder Preston highlighted that although most images were at level one, some were deeply disturbing and indicative of severe child abuse. He remarked, “For those images to be created, there has to be the abuse of children. If it was not for people who are willing to look at those images, there would not be quite so much abuse.”
Preston emphasized the impact of such offenses, saying, “The activities, albeit short-lived, are directly linked to the abuse of children. The impact on victims is hard to fathom. You are a parent yourself. You can imagine how you would feel if something similar happened to your children. There is no excuse for what you did.”
Williams, 40 years old, had previously been employed as a night manager at Asda but saw his career aspirations shattered after police discovered 64 images of child pornography on his home computer.
During the hearing, Recorder Darren Preston sentenced Williams to eight months in jail, but this was suspended for two years. Additionally, Williams will be on the sex offenders’ register for ten years and is prohibited from working with children.
Prosecutor Don McFaul explained that police apprehended Williams following an incident involving a hacked legitimate website, buildarecipe.co.uk, in 2008, which was used to host indecent images of children. The offensive content remained online for 18 hours and was accessed by 2,223 users.
McFaul told the court, “Police arrested Williams at his home in Lanark Terrace on January 16. He admitted to 17 charges of possessing child porn.”
Williams downloaded 64 images, including 59 classified as level one (least serious), one at level two, three at level three, and one at level four, with level five being the most serious.
His defense representative, Zoe Passfield, stated that Williams had “dabbled” in viewing child pornography but quickly recognized the gravity of his actions. She described the offenses as “historic,” noting they occurred in early 2009, with the last viewed images in April 2009. She also mentioned that at the time, Williams was suffering from depression, excessive drinking, and health issues.
Ms Passfield added, “He was appalled and sickened by his actions,” and emphasized that Williams had since attempted to reform his life, even earning the title of student of the year in a previous college course.
In delivering his sentence, Recorder Preston highlighted that although most images were at level one, some were deeply disturbing and indicative of severe child abuse. He remarked, “For those images to be created, there has to be the abuse of children. If it was not for people who are willing to look at those images, there would not be quite so much abuse.”
Preston emphasized the impact of such offenses, saying, “The activities, albeit short-lived, are directly linked to the abuse of children. The impact on victims is hard to fathom. You are a parent yourself. You can imagine how you would feel if something similar happened to your children. There is no excuse for what you did.”