Online pervert had nearly half a million images of child abuse

Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday officers in Brazil investigating a particular a peer to peer file share network uncovered the activities of John Fletcher downloading child abuse files.

Fletcher, a security officer, was traced through his IP address. A search was made at his home in Welwyn Avenue, Batley in March 2009 and his computer and DVDs were seized.

Martin Sharpe, prosecuting, said analysis revealed 449,155 indecent images – so many that the police decided to grade only the first 19,432.

Those examined included 2,083 images and 116 movies at level four and 186 images and one movie at level five, on a scale of seriousness from one up to five, many stored in files named Menuhin after the violinist.

Fletcher told officers he did not get sexual gratification from looking at them but found them fascinating.

Freddy Apfel, representing Fletcher, said he had never been in trouble before but had downloaded some child images when looking at adult pornography and after seeing them started looking at more.

He would leave his computer open to download unaware of the amount arriving and was thoroughly ashamed.

Fletcher, 64, admitted 21 charges of making indecent images and was jailed for 14 months. Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said the quantity involved was huge and when Fletcher’s hard drive was full he burned the images on to discs. Many of those images involved the gravest abuse of young children.

In a separate case Judge Marson jailed another paedophile after hearing he was found to have 2,078 images on his laptop and had previously been jailed for similar offences.

Jonathan Epton, 46, of Cross Flatts Place, Leeds, a senior sales manager until his arrest in 2010, was sentenced to three years in prison admitting 21 offences of making indecent images.

Philip Adams prosecuting, said Epton’s laptop was seized after it was discovered he visited a chatroom used by paedophiles interested in young boys. He was jailed for 21 months in 2003 at Hull Crown Court for similar offences.