Kirkby man's internet searches led him down ‘rabbit hole’ to sick child porn

Police seized a laptop from David Whitehead’s home on August 22, 2022, which contained 25 category A images, 29 category B images and 367 category C images, where category A is the most serious.

And a further 2,000 images were considered “borderline”, said Lucy Jones, prosecuting.

When he was interviewed, Whitehead claimed he “had gone down a rabbit hole” while looking for legal porn and the illegal images were pop ups.

But this was contradicted by search terms including “pre-teen naked” which he used between 2018 and 2020.

The offences attract a starting point of one year in custody with a range of 26 weeks to three years and aggravated by two movies in categories B and C.

Matthew Smith, mitigating, said Whitehead lost his job as a result of the prosecution.

He is struggling with depression and has caring responsibilities for a relative who has severe arthritis.

Mr Smith urged the judge to step back from custody because of his guilty plea, his lack of previous convictions and the way he has begun to open up about the offences.

“He maintains it wasn't motivated by a sexual interest in children,” he added.

Whitehead, aged 59, of Diamond Avenue, Kirkby, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on August 27, 2023.

On Thursday, Judge Julie Warburton imposed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 20 rehabilitation days and 80 hours of unpaid work. He was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.