Man given two years for second child porn conviction

Sentencing Michael Ellis, 49, yesterday at Leeds Crown Court, Judge Penelope Belcher said it was an aggravating feature that he had been jailed before for similar offences.

The court heard he was sent to prison for 30 months in May 2005 for having 1,585 images of which more than a third were at one of the more serious levels, level four.

Ellis, 49 of Bath Road, Cleckheaton, was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday on 10 charges of possessing the images in the current case.

Ordering him to register as a sex offender for 10 years and banning him from working with children, the judge said the evidence against him was very strong.

She accepted what was found indicated he was not a persistent and regular downloader, rather that the images resulted from "individual forays" but any viewing of such material "perpetrates the exploitation of the children abused for these images."

She said she had taken into account references from people including his MP Mike Wood, a magistrate and an ex policeman describing the good he had done in the community including setting up a neighbourhood watch scheme.

Giles Bridge, prosecuting, said police officers had executed a search warrant at Ellis's home on December 21, 2007 and seized his computer and a disk entitled Eliminator which had a computer programme which if run would erase files from the computer memory.

The computer was analysed and 531 items found of which 447 were at level one, the least serious, 15 at level 2, four at level 3 and 29 at level 4.

All the images except for a movie at level two which had been saved to a user profile Michael and a Jpeg at level one had been deleted and were not readily accessible.

Some of the images had been created on the computer hard drive just two days before the search.

Ellis told officers he had bought the computer new and would look at adult pornography but denied downloading any indecent images or children or being aware of them on the computer, which the jury was told could be accessed by his two children and was also used for work.

He denied at his trial he had deliberately downloaded the images and suggested a "Troy" virus on a site might have been responsible without his knowledge.

Michael Goldwater, for Ellis, said on the police account there was no evidence of a pattern of persistent regular searching and downloading but just individual forays.

He said it was not his instructions but "To an independent observer it might appear that he was doing his best to avoid this temptation but unfortunately gave in to it on these occasions".

The vast majority of items involved had been deleted, there was no suggestion of distribution or sharing.

"Outside this conviction in every other respect he is a worthwhile member of the community."

He said in 2004 Ellis had received an award from the High Sheriff for arresting somebody committing car crime and many of those who knew him were convinced of his innocence and that he would never harm children.