Paedophile pensioner caught with 2,000-image haul
BBCA pensioner was caught with a haul of more than 2,000 "disgusting" images of children on his computer, a court has heard.
Charles Angus, 69, downloaded the graphic pictures of children as young as three over a three-year period, Newcastle Crown Court was told.
Recorder David Gordon said online paedophiles like Angus created a demand for the rape and abuse of "real children in the real world".
Angus, from Newcastle, was jailed for one year suspended for two years having admitted making indecent images of children and possessing a prohibited image of a child.
Officers seized two laptops from Angus' home in a raid on 9 March 2023, the court heard.
The devices were found to contain a total of 2,032 images across the three categories of seriousness as well as prohibited images.
'Horrible and disgraceful'
Recorder Gordon said it was sometimes claimed that offending by online paedophiles was victimless.
"That is entirely untrue," the judge said, adding while people like Angus may not actually physically abuse the children, they created a market and demand for such a "cycle of abuse" to occur.
"Each image of child sexual exploitation represents real harm to a real child in the real world," he said, adding many members of the public would want to see Angus jailed for his "horrible and disgraceful behaviour".
However, guidelines, coupled with Angus' personal mitigation of being seriously ill and having no previous convictions, meant the sentence should be suspended, the judge said.
Angus, of Helmsley Road, must abide by an electronically monitored curfew for six months and pay £1,000 costs.
He was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order severely restricting his contact with children and use of the internet for 10 years and must sign the sex offenders register for a decade.