A 75-year-old pensioner from Penketh, Warrington, with a near daily “compulsion” to look at indecent images of young girls has been put behind bars.
White-haired Darryl Walters had a previous conviction for downloading such appalling images and he admitted breaching an order made to prevent further offending.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday (Wed) that police officers carried out a routine visit to Walters home in Warrington on January 23, 2022 to check he was obeying the terms of the Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) made two years earlier.
They found that he had breached it by having a VPN device on his laptop to disguise his internet history and they discovered he had downloaded hundreds of indecent images of children.
Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, said that officers also discovered he had photographed and printed out two A4 photographs, one taken of a child on Facebook and written disgusting sexual remarks on them.
The pictures, which showed “young female children aged seven to ten years, scantily dressed in underwear or swimwear” were hidden in his wardrobe so his wife would not find them, said Mr Blasbery.
His laptop was seized as was a disc drive and Walters produced a USB stick from his pocket containing indecent child images and he later explained he liked to have it with him for his sexual gratification.
A piece of paper with web sites and search terms was also uncovered and the password for the VPN, which deletes internet history, was written on another piece of paper.
When interviewed “he was frank and said he normally searched for indecent images of children nearly every day.” He said he had the VPN to “disguise his high online activity.”
“He said his sexual preference was for young girls aged seven to ten and all the images were for sexual gratification purposes,” said Mr Blasbery.
Walters, from Meetings Lane, Penketh, pleaded guilty to breaching the SHPO, possessing 180 Category C images and making 649 images in the same category.
The court heard that he has a previous conviction in 2020 for four offences involving a total of 51,189 images.
Simran Garcha, defending, said, “He is ashamed, contrite and mortified to find himself back in court and despises the fact he has put his wife through it.”
Despite emotional turmoil his wife is supporting him but was outside the courtroom “in fear of what the outcome may be.”
He had previously referred himself to a charity counselling service and has a better understanding of the harm caused to the child victims.
Miss Garcha said he is in poor physical health and has mental health difficulties. He and his wife support their heroin addict son and if he was jailed the burden of care would fall on his wife, who also has health problems.
Judge Stuart Driver, KC told Walters, “Appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.”
He jailed him for 12 months and imposed a new Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years and ordered him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for the same length of time.
The frail pensioner, whose problems including mobility issues, struggled to leave the dock to the cells.
