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Rothwell Man Gets 22 Months Jail Term for Possession of Child Porn

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A Northamptonshire paedophile who amassed a horrendous collection of over 175,000 indecent images of children has been jailed for 22 months.

Chris Wells, of formerly of Cheaney Street, Rothwell, was already under a sexual harm prevention order for a set of images he was caught with in 2007 and then for breaching his sexual harm prevention order in 2014.

But in May 2020, the 61-year-old surrendered a hard drive and a laptop to police in May this year with the explanation: “There’s probably thousands on here, but I rarely look at them.”

Together, the two devices contained hundreds of thousands of images of indecent children.

Northampton Crown Court heard yesterday how across Wells’ devices, many had been sourced from disturbing streaming sites on the dark web.

It included evidence that Wells had engaged in sinister live streams with child abusers and recorded the broadcast onto his devices.

Out of the more than 175,000 images and films Wells possessed, 2,662 were in ‘Category A’ – the most serious classification available.

The court heard how Wells told police he had an “addiction” to the content he was viewing.

But the 61-year-old – who chose to represent himself at Northampton Crown Court – told the judge he “saw no point” in offending again.

He explained: “I recently had surgery to remove my large bowel and that has led to a loss of sensation in my groinal area… So, yeah, there’s no need for me to carry on offending like this.

“I never thought of what sort of impact I was having on some of the [children] involved but I know it’s wrong.

“I’ve never touched any of them but I know it’s wrong. But I want to ask for a suspended sentence as I want to return to work. I don’t know why my employer should lose out.”

But His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo told Wells: “I cannot suspend this sentence.

“You have acknowledged the obvious harm done to these children, and it is harm, that is what they are subjected to.

“But I have concluded that the custodial threshold has been crossed and it is unavoidable that a custodial sentence has to be imposed.”

Wells was jailed for 22 months for possession of indecent images of children. His Sexual Harm Prevention Order was extended for another 10 years.

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Written by L Walker

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