A former martial arts teacher confessed to being "sexually attracted" to indecent images of children after he was arrested.
Michael Southern, 28, of Vine Street, Widnes, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday after being found with more than 100 indecent images of children, some aged only one year old. Carmel Wilde, prosecuting, explained the details of the case.
A court heard that on December 15, 2018, police received information about Southern, but did not visit him until April 9, 2019. A search warrant was executed and a laptop, hard drive and mobile phone was seized.
READ NEXT: Prolific burglar caught after DNA linked him to unsolved crimes
He also gave permission for police to analyse his cloud based storage. Examination of the iPhone showed Southern to be in possession of indecent and prohibited images of children, and showed he used social media platform Wickr to distribute images and videos of children.
Southern appeared in court for eight charges relating to making and distributing indecent and prohibited images of children. He was in possession of 28 Category A images, 27 of which were videos involving child rape with victims aged between 7-11 years old.
Police also found 20 category B images, four of which were videos involving children aged one and two-years-old, and 64 category C images, one of which was a video, also involving a very young child. In total he was found with 112 images or videos showing rape and abuse of children.
Only days before his arrest, he had been “willingly receiving and distributing images of children being abused to other interested users on the platform Wikr.” Laura Broome, defending, explained that Southern had previously been a martial arts teacher but lost his job after he was arrested in relation to this case.
She said since his arrest four years ago, he has not committed any offences and has completed a programme with child protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull organisation. She said: “He has asked me to convey his regret to the court.
“He is disgusted hearing the messages sent, and any messages he sent were simply fantasy and he would never have acted upon them.” She also detailed that as a result of his offences, his relationship with his partner has been extremely strained, but she has remained by his side and supportive of him.
Details of the messages sent were not detailed in open court.
Judge David Swinnerton said he had seen a report detailing the content found, "which shows the full horror and degradation of those children being raped."
He said: “You had been posting indecent images of children to other interested users and had exchanged highly sexualised messages, the content of which clearly indicated child abuse but there is no evidence of you putting that towards the contact of any child in order to abuse them.” “Unusually, you have been open and honest in your interview with the police, and with the pre-sentence report author, that you were at the time sexually attracted to the indecent images you were downloading of children.”
He added: “Behind every image that was made and distributed by you was a child being abused.
"The obvious distress in at least one of those images shows the degradation that those children are put through which will be lasting for their lifetime. Your interest continues the vile trade.”
Judge Swinnerton sentenced Southern to 28 months imprisonment for the distribution of Category A images, 12 months for the distribution of Category B images and four months for the distribution of Category C images, to be served concurrently.
For the charges relating to making of Category A images, he was sentenced to 16 months in jail, and eight months for Category B, and four months for Category C, also to be served concurrently. He was also sentenced to 16 months imprisonment for possession of all 112 images, plus four months for possession of two prohibited images of children, to be served concurrently.
In total he was sentenced to 28 months immediate imprisonment, and a sexual harm prevention order and a notification order was also imposed. A deprivation order in respect of the devices seized was also made.
READ NEXT
Woman in serious condition after 'machete' attack as man remains in custody
Stomach churning photos show inside Chinese takeaway hit with £6,000 fine
Live updates as ice causes travel disruption across Merseyside
When will teachers across Merseyside go on strike? Full list of dates
Gangster who 'shared TikTok rap videos from prison' up for parole
