A paedophile who was caught when he took an Amazon Kindle containing sick pictures to Cash Converters ended up back in court this week after being given a second chance.
Jeffrey Wade avoided jail in October 2020 after admitting three counts of downloading and one of possessing indecent images of children, and one count of possessing prohibited images of children. On that occasion he walked free after a judge heard he was "motivated to put this behaviour behind him".
That came after the court heard Wade, now 37, had been "downloading and stockpiling" more than 4,000 child sex abuse photos and videos since 2016. His collection included images of babies and toddlers being molested and children as young as five or six being raped.
READ MORE: Paedophile said 'oops' when confronted about gaps in his internet history
On March 26 2019, Wade went to Cash Converters on Dovecot Parade and received £15 for an Amazon Kindle. When staff came to wipe the device to resell it, they found the sick photos.
Cash Converters immediately contacted the police, who found 11 Category B indecent images - the second most serious category depicting sexual activity - 143 Category C files and 25 prohibited computer generated images.
Merseyside Police raided Wade's home in East Prescot Road and seized more electronic equipment including a laptop, Raspberry Pi computer, mobile phones, USB sticks, SD card and an external hard drive. In total on these devices and the Kindle there were 145 Category A, 392 Category B and 3,719 Category C files, adding up to 4,258 indecent images, plus 1,916 prohibited images.
The Category A files including images of children as young as five or six being raped, while the Category B images included newborn babies and toddlers.
Jamie Baxter, prosecuting, said evidence showed Wade had been "downloading and stockpiling indecent images of children", searching for "three to five years old nude" and using techniques "to try and conceal his criminality", including a DuckDuckGo search engine and VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) to obscure his IP address.
Sarah Holt, defending, said her client made "full admissions" to the police and had since contacted an organisation to try and get help, but was told he would have to pay the cost of the support, which was "prohibitively expensive".
She said Wade accepted he needed help and that he had "a clear sexual interest" in the images, but wanted the court to know he would never have harmed, approached or attempted to contact a child. The lawyer said Wade had received support for mental health problems, was on medication, and had something of a "chaotic lifestyle", illustrated by the fact that when police came to search his home, they had to request specialist clothing to keep themselves "safe".
Sentencing, Judge Rachel Smith Judge Smith said: "This is not a victimless crime. For every consumer such as yourself, seeking out images, a real child is abused to create the images."
She said the Probation Service believed there was a "low likelihood of re-conviction" and that she noted his mental health issues, chaotic lifestyle, lack of previous convictions and the fact he was "motivated to put this behaviour behind him".
Judge Smith handed Wade 16 months in jail, suspended for two years, the Horizon programme, and a 40-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR). Judge Smith said he must sign on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.
However, Wade returned to Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday (March 30), appearing on video link from prison. He appeared for sentence after breaching terms of his suspended sentence and the Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
After avoiding jail in 2020, Wade was paid regular visits by his offender manager. The manager paid him a routine visit at his East Prescot Road home in Dovecot on May 20, 2022.
On this visit, the manager found a black Nokia device. The device had a Virtual Private Network (VPN) downloaded.
VPNs give an internet user an opportunity to encrypt their use of the internet, making it harder for third parties to track their online activity. Wade's Nokia also showed use of search engine DuckDuckGo, which protects the privacy of internet users. Additionally, there were gaps in his internet history on Google Chrome.
When the officer mentioned this to Wade, he said "oops, yeah".
On May 26, an examination of the phone was conducted. This confirmed that two VPNs were installed, along with use of DuckDuckGo, while an expert said that Wade had to take "positive action" to install and activate these.
He had used VPNs and DuckDuckGo in his initial offending in order to obscure his IP address.
Wade, who suffers from mental health problems including schizophrenia, attended a police interview on August 5, 2022. It was put to him that he should not have any way of conducting secure internet browsing. He said "I understand, it won't happen again".
The device did not contain any illegal images and Wade said he used the VPN for downloading films. However, the use of it breached terms he was subject to.
Mr Recorder Leach QC was unable to pass sentence, however. Wade will need to undergo a psychiatric assessment in order to ascertain the role his mental health problems played in his offending, as well as to decide whether he has a realistic problem of rehabilitation, before a judge sentences at an adjourned hearing in May.
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