A paedophile tried to hide his phone in a freezer to stop police finding dozens of videos of children being raped.
Athanasios Konstantinidis had already been caught with child abuse images once in June 2019 but a judge had spared him jail on that occasion.
Yet instead of abiding by rules aimed at stopping him offending again, the 57-year-old bought a new phone the following year and began downloading hundreds of images and videos of child sexual abuse.
READ MORE: Mum and kids hide in bathroom as ex smears blood through home
Derek Jones, prosecuting, said Konstantinidis kept the existence of his phone hidden from officers who were monitoring him at regular meetings.
He said: “We now know that the defendant failed to disclose that he had purchased a new phone.
“It came to light because police, in the meantime, had received intelligence that somebody had shared and uploaded indecent images of children.
“The IP address was then tracked to this defendant.”
When police arrived at his home in Southport on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, to carry out a search he was caught out trying to hide the phone.
Mr Jones said: “He then tried to hide the mobile phone in a freezer in the kitchen.
“This attempt was seen by an officer and the phone was seized.”
Later analysis of the phone found a large trove of child abuse images had been downloaded.
They included 557 Category A images, the most serious, as well 929 Category B images and 1,514 Category C images.
The court heard there were 284 videos on the phone, one of which showed a girl believed to be around eight or nine years old being raped by a man while showing clear signs of distress.
Separately, Konstantinidis also sent two separate Category C images to other individuals over email.
The court heard that in one of the emails, sent in August 2020, Konstantinidis attached the picture and wrote: “Enjoy.”
Charles Lander, defending, said Konstantinidis quickly admitted all of the offences when arrested by police and pleaded guilty in court at the earliest opportunity.
He said there was nothing that could be said to lessen the seriousness of the offences themselves but said Konstantinidis was extremely isolated socially due to his responsibilities as a carer.
Mr Lander said Konstantinidis is the main carer for his wife, who has chronic leukaemia, and had become increasingly cut off from the outside world as he took steps to ensure she was isolating when the pandemic began as she was clinically vulnerable.
His caring responsibilities for her increased so significantly that he had to quit his job.
He was also grieving the loss of his mother in Greece, having not been able to travel to see her before she died due to Covid restrictions.
Mr Lander said the pandemic had also delayed a number of the courses he had been due to undertake to tackle his offending.
Mr Lander said: “All I submit on his behalf is the background against which he did what he did.”
The judge, Recorder Eric Lamb, said Konstantinidis had failed to use the second chance given to him by the courts to change his behaviour.
Recorder Lamb said: “Not only were you given the opportunity of a suspended sentence, you were also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and the terms of that order were to ensure that you would have a constant reminder of the steps you needed to take to ensure that you did not fall prey to the temptation to download these disgusting images.”
He said the actions of people like Konstantinidis fuelled the abuse of children.
Recorder Lamb said: “Without people like you who take an interest in these images there would not be this abuse against children.”
Konstantinidis, of Ashdown Close, Southport, admitted possessing, making and distributing indecent images of children and numerous counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
He was jailed for a total of 32 months.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
