Ashfield man who downloaded thousands of child porn images sent to crown court

Ashley Payne, aged 27, of Stonechurch View, Annesley, admitted eight counts of possessing and distributing indecent images of children, between June 2019 and May 2022, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Tuesday.

He admitted possession of more than 3,000 category A images, 95 category B images, and nearly 15,000 category C images, when category A is the most extreme. He also admitted distributing 224 category C images.

In addition, Payne admitted possessing 100 prohibited images of children and 36 extreme pornographic images depicting bestiality.

Ian Pridham, for Payne, said his client was of previous good character and requested a pre-sentence report from probation.

Magistrates granted him bail on condition he has no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18 and that he notifies police of any new job role.

He was committed for sentence at Nottingham Crown Court on July 4.

The presiding magistrate told Payne: “These offences are so serious you need greater punishment than we can give.”