A paedophile was caught when he posted vile images of children on Snapchat and Instagram.
Aaren Murphy, 22, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday (May 31). Prosecuting, David Polglase told the court that on November 1, 2021, police were informed that a category A indecent image of a child had been uploaded on Instagram by an account with a phone number registered to Murphy.
On December 29, 2021, another category A indecent image of a child was uploaded to Snapchat from an IP address located at the defendant's home.
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Police executed a warrant on July 6, 2022 and searched Murphy's home. When confronted about the indecent images, he said: "It's from Telegram, it just saves to my phone", he added: "I do know it's illegal" and claimed he deleted the images.
Officers seized an iPhone and interviewed Murphy at Huyton Police Station. Murphy admitted responsibility for the images but remained silent when shown them.
The iPhone had internet browser Safari installed, as well as encrypted messaging service Telegram and Russian social media network VK. He was found through the phone's file paths to have been in possession of 1,860 indecent images of children, which he had accessed between November 2019 and July 2022.
Of these, 928 were category A - the most serious category. These included images of babies and young children involved in sexual activity.
Murphy also possessed 29 images of extreme pornography and also distributed four images of bestiality. Police also found he had distributed 334 category A indecent images of children as well as 78 category B images between October 2021 and June 2022.
Murphy pleaded guilty to eight sexual offences charges at magistrates' court in February. In mitigation, Michael Hagety told the court Murphy had expressed remorse for his actions. He pointed to his client's zero previous convictions, age and lack of maturity.
The defendant, who has enhanced anxiety and depression, attended a school for pupils with special educational needs. Mr Hagerty described his client as "someone who has intellectual issues and communication issues".
Though he said Murphy posed a high risk of causing harm to children, Mr Hagerty said his client was at low risk of reoffending, adding that he had a realistic prospect of rehabilitation if the judge suspended the sentence.
However, Mr Recorder Peter Atherton jailed Murphy. Treating the distribution of category A images as the lead offence, the judge handed him a three year and four month sentence.
Mr Recorder Atherton told Murphy: "You knew that your actions were illegal and unacceptable and you were aware of the damage to the victims". He added: "Still and moving images which you distributed and possessed depict horrific abuse of babies and children".
Murphy, of Haydn Road, West Derby, was also handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
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