Hucknall man downloaded indecent images for second time

Alexander Jephson's IP address was traced in April 2020, and police arrested him at his home on August 21, Nottingham Crown Court has heard.

He told officers: "You might find some topless girls but they're 99 per cent OK. I think I said there were a handful of low-grade images."

In fact 5,150 Category C images were found on his computers, along with five Category B and four Category A, where Category A is the most extreme.

The girls in the images were aged between 14 and 17, and there were no "very young children," prosecutor Siward James-Moore said.

In a later interview, Jephson claimed he had "no clue about Category A or B," but accepted responsibility.

The court heard he was jailed for six months at Leicester Crown Court, in 2007, on 12 charges of making indecent images of children.

Emma Hodgson, mitigating, asked for the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to be varied so he could continue to use encryption software, on the understanding he will provide police with a decryption key so his internet use can be monitored.

Jephson, 40, of Tiberius Gardens, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, at the magistrates court.

On Friday, Judge Stuart Rafferty QC told him: "Each time you do this – whether these children are one, two, 14 or 17 – they’re all underage. They’re all children. They’re entitled to be children instead of being corrupted.

"The principal corruptors are the people who put this filth on the internet.

"But people like you who sit there in the dark, ogling it on a screen and pretending it doesn’t matter, are deluding themselves.

"If you’re not ashamed you should be. This is the most despicable offence there is – bar one. People like you encourage that to happen.”

He imposed a three-year community order and ordered Jephson to attend a 90-day programme for sex offenders and 30 rehabilitation days.”

“If I see you again, it will be the worst day of you life – believe me,” Judge Rafferty told him.

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