Clipstone pervert downloaded images depicting rape of girls as young as four

Police raided Jonathan Lake's home after indecent images were downloaded to his IP address between October 2019 and August 2023, prosecutor Dawn Pritchard told Nottingham Crown Court.

Analysis of his computer revealed he had 124 category A images, 94 category B images and 1,177 category C images, when category A is the most extreme, of girls aged between four and 12.

Judge Michael Auty KC said the true number of indecent images was unknown as police stopped interrogating Lake’s devices after they uncovered the first 1,000 images.

"The courts are at risk of passing woefully short sentences when they should be much longer," he commented.

“You can’t say with any degree of certainty how many category A images there are.

“The general public needs to understand category A is the most serious. There are depictions here of young girls being raped.”

Luc Chignell, mitigating, said Lake, of previous good character, “developed his own insight into his offending” after he was challenged by probation officers.

"His candour means he is a suitable candidate for a sex offenders programme,” he said.

“He is genuinely ashamed and truly sorry. He doesn’t know where he would have ended up without the police intervention.”

Lake, aged 43, of Highfield Road, Clipstone, admitted three counts of making indecent images when he first appeared at Nottingham Crown Court.

On Wednesday, he received a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 40 rehabilitation days and 150 hours of unpaid work. He must sign the sex offenders register for ten years and was made the subject of a ten-year sexual harm rehabilitation order.

"These offences are truly abhorrent,” the judge told him. “The idea of someone like you sitting in his bedroom, deriving sexual pleasure not merely from naked children but from the rape of children will rightly lead any right-thinking member of society to conclude they can hardly imagine anything more despicable.

“If I had sent you away to custody today you would serve a relatively short period and you would be more likely to reoffend on your release,” Judge Auty told him.

"You are a better candidate than most for rehabilitation. Let's hope it works."