A man has appeared in court after he was found to have downloaded over 200n indecent images of children, this despite the man already being subject to a suspended sentence for the same offence.
Martin Sparks, aged 47, of Maldon Walk, Redbridge, pleaded guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, 26 June to five counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), making indecent images of children (category A) and making indecent images of children (category B).
He is due to be sentenced at the same court on Wednesday, 26 August.
The Metropolitan police revealed than on Thursday the 18th of June, officers from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command executed a search warrant at Sparks’ home address following intelligence that indecent images of children had been downloaded at the address via peer-to-peer (p2p) software.
Sparks was subsequently convicted on 26 June 2018 for making indecent images of children. He received two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) until “further order” on this date.
When officers carried out the warrant on 18 June, Sparks initially denied any knowledge of the illegal online activity, but when he was questioned further he admitted breaches of his SHPO and having downloaded and viewed child abuse images.
In total the convicted committed five Sexual Harm Prevention Order breaches.
During the search of his address, police seized a computer tower, which Sparks used to download the illegal images – this related to three of the breaches.
The Met also reported they found an electronic tablet, which was a breach due to it not being declared to his Public Protection Unit manager.
The final breach was for connecting to the home’s router to use the internet when he downloaded the indecent images of children.
The now-convicted was taken to an east London police station. When searched in custody, two USB digital storage devices were found in his shoes.
A total of 233, category A child abuse videos and 17 category B ones were found on the USBs.
Sparks admitted to officers that when he heard officers enter the address, he went to hide the USBs and decided to put them in his shoes and put his shoes on. Sparks admitted all the offences during his interview and he was charged on Friday, 19 June.
Detective Constable James Cavenham, the investigating officer, said: “Sparks is now facing time behind bars after committing the same hideous offence once again. The evidence we gathered against him meant he had no option but to plead guilty.
“Although this is not a contact offence, every single image contains a child who is a victim of an appalling crime and when people like Sparks seek these images out, they continue to generate a market for this type of abuse.
“The Met will continue to relentlessly pursue and bring to justice those who download online images of child sexual abuse.”
Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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