Sex offender had child porn (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Sex offender had child porn

8:00am Monday 14th May 2012 in News By Bruce Unwin, Chief Reporter (Durham)

CHILD pornography was found on the home computer of a man with a history of sex offences, a court heard.

Police arrested Dean Solomon over a separate alleged offence on July 24, last year, and as part of the inquiry seized his computer for analysis.

Durham Crown Court was told that 180 offending images, all rated in the lowest category of severity for such material, were retrieved.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said that about a third of them were readily accessible, while the remaining two-thirds were deleted.

“The images, themselves, were in the main young or very young females in provocative poses in swimwear, with a few naked.

“He had been searching for things like ‘Schoolgirl threesomes’, ‘Schoolgirl porn’, etc, but he claimed he bought the computer second-hand and it had been subject to various viruses. But he did admit accessing images of girls as young as 11 or 12.”

Solomon, 56, of Houghton Bank, Heighington, near Newton Aycliffe, admitted 16 counts of downloading indecent images of children and one of possession of such material.

The court heard that he has convictions for indecency and sexual assault on girls aged under 13 and for taking indecent photographs of himself abusing a girl of 13.

Mr Dodds said Solomon was previously made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (Sopo), but this had expired before the offending images were found last July.

He is required, however, to register as a sex offender indefinitely.

Diane Nixon, mitigating, said Solomon was convicted of rape in 1993 and served an eight-year prison sentence.

But after new evidence came to light it was reduced to a two-year term, on appeal, as the offence was downgraded to consensual sexual activity with girls aged 14 and 15.

Ms Nixon said a further fiveyear sentence for offences including taking indecent photographs of children was also reduced to three years, also on appeal.

She told the court Solomon began looking at adult pornography, seeking images of women in schoolgirl uniforms, but it developed to looking at schoolgirl pornography.

She added: “In this case, however, all but three of the children are clothed. It’s the poses which render them indecent, which he says he finds sexually provocative.

“But, he does feel sorry for what he has done.”

Recorder Ian Atherton imposed a three-year community with a view to Solomon undergoing an intensive sex offender treatment programme, to address his predilections.

He also made Solomon subject of an indefinite Sopo prohibiting unsupervised contact with children under 16, and ordered his computer equipment should be forfeited.