WEYMOUTH PAEDOPHILE STEVEN BIRCHALL SENTENCED AFTER DOWNLOADS OF CHILD INDECENT IMAGES IN DORCHESTER

In a serious case that has once again cast a spotlight on the ongoing issue of child exploitation, Steven Birchall, a 55-year-old resident of Weymouth, was brought before Dorchester Crown Court in April 2013 to face charges related to the possession and download of indecent images of children. Birchall, who has a prior conviction for similar offenses, was found guilty of 28 counts of downloading such images, which were discovered on multiple hard drives during police raids conducted at his home.

Authorities revealed that over 3,000 images were seized from Birchall’s residence, located at Ferrybridge Cottages in Weymouth, following a police investigation that was initiated after his release from prison in 2011. His previous conviction involved admitting to 30 charges of creating indecent images of children, ranging from toddlers to teenagers, and resulted in a 12-month prison sentence. The images involved were rated on a severity scale from one to five, with five being the most serious.

During the court proceedings, prosecutor Jennie Rickman detailed the nature of the images found on Birchall’s devices. She stated that among the images seized, 2,393 were classified as level one, indicating the least severe category, while 163 were grade two, 145 at level three, 283 at level four, and nine at the most serious level five. Birchall admitted to downloading these images, asserting that the majority of them, except for four, were obtained while he was awaiting sentencing for his previous conviction. Of the four images, three were level one and one was level three.

Birchall openly acknowledged his sexual attraction to children during the court hearing. As part of his sentence, he was ordered to participate in the Thames Valley Sex Offender Groupwork Programme, a structured rehabilitation initiative aimed at addressing his offending behavior. The court also described Birchall as a ‘socially isolated person without very many friends,’ highlighting his limited social interactions.

He was sentenced to a three-year community order, which includes a requirement to adhere to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO), subject to any further legal orders. Birchall is already registered as a sex offender and will remain on the register for an additional five years. In mitigation, his legal representative, Lee Christmas, emphasized that Birchall now genuinely wishes to cease his paedophilic tendencies and seek help.

Judge Jarvis, presiding over the case, emphasized the gravity of Birchall’s actions, stating, “You are described as a socially isolated person without very many friends or contacts with whom you share your daily existence. There seems to be some suggestion that you really now understand that this sort of behaviour needs to stop and you need to change your ways. These are innocent little children. Not innocent now, unfortunately. Their innocence is lost because someone has forced them to participate to provide images for people like you. There is any number of young children throughout the world being abused.”

Child protection advocate Claude Knights, director of Kidscape, commented on the challenges of rehabilitating offenders like Birchall. She pointed out that the effectiveness of such programmes varies, and often, offenders do not undergo coherent or successful rehabilitation while incarcerated. She expressed hope that the mandatory Thames Valley Sex Offender Groupwork Programme would help Birchall and others like him to stop committing such heinous crimes.

In a related case from October 2010, Birchall, then aged 53, was sentenced to 12 months in prison after admitting to possessing nearly 10,000 images of child abuse. Police had uncovered 9,637 images and 348 movies during a raid on his Weymouth home. These materials were graded from level one to five, with 206 images and 190 movies at level four, and 15 images along with eight movies at level five, indicating the most severe content. Judge Roger Jarvis highlighted the horror of the images, especially considering the very young ages of the children involved, and stressed the importance of deterring others from similar behavior.

Police investigations traced Birchall’s activities back to a 2008 warrant, during which he cooperated with officers by handing over a hard drive and other devices containing the illicit material. Birchall admitted to police that he had been viewing such images for over a decade, initially starting with adult pornography before gradually shifting to images of children, which he admitted gave him sexual gratification. As a result, he was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for ten years, underscoring the serious nature of his crimes and the ongoing risk he poses to the community.