TONY OSBORNE OF MARKET HARBOROUGH JAILED FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND VOYEURISM IN LEICESTER

In a case that has shocked the local community of Market Harborough and the wider Leicester area, Tony Osborne, aged 50, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after being found guilty of multiple serious offences involving voyeurism and possession of child abuse images. The proceedings took place at Leicester Crown Court, where the details of Osborne's disturbing activities were laid bare.

According to court reports, Osborne was convicted of secretly filming his neighbour, a woman in her 20s, on five separate occasions while she was preparing to shower. The neighbour was described as being 'devastated' upon learning that Osborne had covertly recorded her through her window, using partially closed Venetian blinds as cover. The recordings included a commentary with sexual remarks, which added to the trauma experienced by the victim. The court heard that Osborne's actions had a profound emotional impact on her, causing her to suffer sleepless nights and heightened anxiety when going out. Her partner was also visibly upset and angry about the invasion of privacy.

Osborne, who resides on Andrew MacDonald Close in Market Harborough, admitted to two counts of voyeurism, covering the period from March to October of the previous year. In addition to these charges, he pleaded guilty to eight counts of possessing indecent images of children. The images, totaling 56, were classified across various levels of severity, with 15 at the lowest level, involving pictures of a 15-year-old girl he knew, which had been downloaded onto his computer. The other images ranged from pre-teen children to those up to approximately 17 years old, with some at higher levels of severity, indicating more explicit content.

Prosecutor Caroline Bray explained that Osborne also kept a notebook containing details of child pornography websites, further illustrating his involvement in the possession and viewing of such material. An examination of his camcorder revealed that he had been secretly filming his neighbour through her window, capturing her as she used her dressing room. The court noted that Osborne had used his device to record her on multiple occasions, often when she was partially obscured by closed blinds.

During police interviews, Osborne admitted to possessing the images, claiming curiosity as his motive and denying that he knew the girls depicted were under 18. Disturbingly, one of the images used as wallpaper on his computer was of three female children performing sex acts, highlighting the severity of his offending.

James Thomas, representing Osborne, argued that his client was not distributing or sharing the images with others and expressed that Osborne was genuinely embarrassed and ashamed of his actions. The court was informed that Osborne, a father of three, had become increasingly isolated and lonely following the breakdown of his 15-year marriage. He confided in a probation officer that he was not sexually aroused by the images, but the pre-sentence report classified him as a 'high risk of future sex offences.'

Judge Simon Hammond emphasized the devastating impact of Osborne's actions on his neighbour and condemned the possession of child pornography as a heinous crime. He stated that such images represent the gross sexual abuse of under-aged girls, whether in this country or elsewhere. As part of his sentence, Osborne was subjected to a sexual offences prevention order, which grants police the authority to monitor his computer activity and restricts him from having unsupervised contact with children, aiming to prevent any future offending.