June 2016 Trainee teacher from Wrexham downloaded child abuse films A TRAINEE teacher’s career is in ruins after his secret life of downloading films of child sex abuse was revealed. Wasim Hussain, 31, said in court to be a trainee teacher at a school in the Oswestry area, avoided immediate imprisonment yesterday. Hussain, of Glan-Llyn Road, Wrexham, who has since been sacked, was sent on an internet sex offender course run by the probation service to “sort out his demons”. And the judge issued a warning to other like-minded people that if they were downloading images of children being abused then they could expect a knock on the door from the police and all the shame, and often the loss of a job and a home, that went with it. Judge Geraint Walters said that outwardly Hussain was a perfectly decent man seeking to become, of all things, a teacher. “But in the shadow of your existence it has now become plain that you were involved in downloading pornography relating to young children,” he said. Much of it was of the gravest and most obscene category and the most damaging as far as the children themselves were concerned. Hussain had pleaded guilty at an early stage at Wrexham magistrates’ court, but was still somewhat in denial as to exactly what his motives were. “People don’t readily access material of this sort unless they are getting something out of it. Common sense tells everyone that.” Judge Walters said he had stark options – to send him to prison for a period which in real time would be measured in months or impose what was probably the toughest community order available lasting three years when he would have to confront those demons. The judge said it was a continual source of surprise to him that people like the defendant, despite all that was in the media about the ability of the police to detect such offences, and rightly so, continued to commit such offences. “The police have a wider range of powers these days to detect offending of this sort which every decent member of the public would welcome. “The message could not be clearer. Do this and expect to face the shame of everybody finding out, the loss of a job, sometimes the loss of a family life and sometimes the loss of a home too. If that were not a deterrent then I cannot begin to imagine what might be.” Hussain was placed on a three year community order and sent on an internet community sex offender programme. He was placed on 90 days rehabilitation, was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for five years and a five year sexual harm prevention order was made which curbs his use of the internet and prevents direct contact with children. Simon Rogers, prosecuting, said police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s home in November of last year, but Hussain was at work. On his return, he told officers: “I might know something about that” when told why they had a search warrant. He said some images had appeared on his computer which he deleted. In interview he said he may have downloaded images of children, but had done so accidently. He said it may have happened in excess of 100 times. A total of 13 films were found – 10 at the worst category A and three at category B – which involved girls aged between five and 10. He had used peer to peer software to download images. More than 770 files were located, the names of which were indicative of indecent images which had been placed in a file to disguise its use. Re-interviewed, he said that for a period of six months, two years earlier, he had deliberately searched for such images and said he was curious. He had deleted them and claimed he had no sexual gratification from them, but could not explain his motivation. Asked about his choice of career, he said that his decision to become a teacher had nothing to do with downloading indecent images.