Bulwell man couldn’t explain why he downloaded thousands of vile child porn images

Officers attended Robert Farrell's home early in the morning of August 8 last year, after receiving information that his IP address had accessed indecent material three months earlier.

Prosecutor Steven Taylor said there was evidence of downloading between May and August and Farrell handed four devices over to police, but initially gave no-comment replies.

Analysis of his laptop and an external drive uncovered 25 category A images, eight category B images, and 3,570 category C images, where category A is the most extreme.

“The concern here is the very young age of the children depicted which the Crown would say is an aggravating feature,” said Mr Taylor.

“He said he had been downloading a film from a torrent site and deleted the material straight away, but then downloaded it again and deleted it again.

“He said he couldn't believe he had done it and couldn't explain why he had done it. He denies having a sexual attraction to children.”

Nottingham Crown Court heard the 62-year-old has no previous convictions or cautions.

Lauren Manuel, mitigating, said Farrell “struggled to reconcile how he got himself involved in this offending,” but has now started therapy to address his offending.

“This is a man who is capable of rehabilitation,” she said. “He presents as a low risk of reoffending. He deserves full credit for his early guilty plea.”

Farrell, of Sandhurst Road, Bulwell, admitted three counts of possessing indecent images, when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court, on June 1.

On Wednesday, Recorder Michael Stephens told him: “At the age of 62, you have lost your good character in particularly alarming circumstances.

“There are only 25 images in the most serious category - but they are serious, perverted images which do not reflect well on your interests.”

He imposed a 12-month prison term, suspended for two years, with 20 rehabilitation days and 150 hours of unpaid work.

Farrell was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years and made the subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.