February 2016 Man who had hundreds of indecent images of children on his laptop and phones is spared prison A MAN who had more than 1,300 indecent images of children on his laptop and phones – including pictures depicting girls as young as five involved in sexual acts – has been spared jail.  Other images on the devices seized from Timothy Seddon included pornographic stills of a man and woman involved in bestiality, Stafford Crown Court heard today, while others showed girls aged 8-12, including an 8-12 year old undressing. Seddon, 51, of Elm Drive, Bradley, admitted three counts of making indecent photographs of children, circulating indecent moving images of children, distributing an indecent photograph of a child and possessing extreme pornographic images. The court was told that more than 130 images were category A – the most serious. Steven Bailey, prosecuting, said: “Police visited Mr Seddon’s home address, having received information, on November 5 2014, and took a long time it seems analysing all the material. Phones and a laptop were seized and the majority of images were on phones. “Distribution was an attempt to generate conversation with adult men about sex with children. In 2014 he uploaded a (photo) onto Twitter of a girl of about 11, 12 or 13, naked, purporting to be that girl. He said he had used Twitter posing as a 13 year old girl, used as a means of contacting adults. “He said he had been sent photos of girls as young as five and six and wasn’t interested in them that young. All the images were on Twitter.” Neil Gerrity, defending, told the court that Seddon had no previous convictions. “He says to me he continues to wrestle with himself in terms of what is going on. He does not know what is going on in his own head.” Mr Gerrity added that rehabilitation was an option, given Seddon’s circumstances. Judge Mark Eades, passing sentence, said: “It seems pretty harmless, it’s only a picture, it’s not real life, and if you have a depravity towards it, it might not be yourself taking them. If you sit down and think about it, in order to get the pornographic image in the first place, a child has to be abused. “You had over 100 Category A images. That means a good number of children have been abused. You provided the money that oils the wheels of this industry when you did it. There are victims. “The question I have had to decide is what to do with you, if rehabilitation is really an option and if you are sincere. You have a problem with viewing child pornography and I accept rehabilitation is probably the right course. “But if you are saying you will go on a course because you want to avoid prison and you don’t believe you have done anything wrong and you don’t have a problem with child pornography, it is going to be a waste of time. “Which way should I go? It is on a knife edge. Given your age, and the fact you have pleaded guilty, I am prepared to accept what your counsel has said.” Seddon was handed a community order with a supervision requirement of three years. He was ordered to go on a sexual offender programme, placed on the Sexual Offenders’ Register for five years and ordered to pay £535 costs.