October 2013
Man obsessed with child abuse images avoids prison
A family man who became “obsessed” with child pornography – some showing children as young as six – has avoided going to prison.
David Cameron Wright admitted downloading hundreds of indecent images of children – some at the highest level of seriousness.
He also had 243 images of extreme pornography, some of which featured animals, Carlisle Crown Court heard.
Wright, of Main Street, Whitehaven, downloaded the images via a file sharing network which were accessible by anyone using the network.
After his arrest police were able to identify that his downloading patterns increased between April and October last year, the court heard.
Examination of some of the images found on Wright’s computer referred to children as young as six.
In interview he denied being aroused sexually by any photographs of children and found them too distressing to look at again.
Greg Hoare, defending, described Wright’s conduct as “disgraceful and disgusting” but added that he had learnt his lesson.
Mr Hoare also said that importantly, there was no evidence that Wright, 49, had tried to share the material.
Mr Hoare added: “He [Wright] is a professional man with no previous convictions who fell into looking at this material and when the reality of it dawned on him he immediately recognised he was prolonging this awful trade.”
Wright’s wife was “appalled” after finding out about the images and his children were of an age where they understood what had happened, Mr Hoare said.
Judge Paul Batty QC sentenced Wright to a16-month prison sentence suspended for two years with a two-year supervision requirement.
He was also ordered to attend a sex offenders’ treatment programme and placed on the sexoffenders’ register for 10 years.
