FATHER AND SON BOTH HAD CHILD ABUSE IMAGES AT SAME HOUSE
A father who produced child abuse images on his computer has been imprisoned after his son discovered them and shared them with an online acquaintance.Stephen Rawlinson used image editing software to transform innocent photos of children into explicit images and was found to have 139 such images stored on his Dell computer.
His son, William, also showed an interest in illicit imagery involving children.
He downloaded over 2,000 images from the internet and used a USB flash drive to remove some of his father's images.
Additionally, William sent 22 images to a contact he met via the Kik messaging app shortly before police executed a search warrant at their home in South Street, where both lived at the time.
The 56-year-old father has a history of previous convictions related to downloading child exploitation material and was sentenced at Exeter Crown Court.
His 27-year-old son was placed on a sex offenders' rehabilitation program.
Police recovering evidence during a raid in September 2017 discovered the manipulated images created by Stephen Rawlinson.
He admitted to creating the images but claimed he had no knowledge of any sharing of the images via Kik.
When questioned about the use of Kik, he insisted he was unaware of the platform, leading authorities to interview his son.
During the interview, William was found with child images stored in a Dropbox on his phone and admitted to sending some images over Kik.
He also acknowledged downloading images from the internet and storing some of his father's images on a USB stick.
Between 2009 and 2017, Stephen produced a total of 11 Category A, 16 Category B, and 112 Category C images.
William, between June and September 2017, created 1 Category A, 233 Category B, and 2,005 Category C images or videos, and distributed 22 Category C images.
During sentencing, Miss Emily Pitts, representing Stephen, noted that his previous sex offender treatment program had since been discredited as it failed to address the root causes of his offending behavior.
She suggested a new program was more likely to bring about positive change.
She also mentioned that Stephen is in poor health and wishes to relocate closer to medical facilities to facilitate attending appointments.
For William, Mr.
Richard Crabb stated he is remorseful and eager to address his conduct.
William has moved out of the family home, now lives with his mother, and is employed as a street cleaner.
Mr.
Crabb added, “He does not seek to blame anyone else for his offending, but it is an inescapable fact that pornography became part of his lifestyle during his formative years—initially adult material, then prohibited images.”
