A "lonely" pervert had vile sexual images of babies amongst his 1,500-strong sick collection of child sex abuse videos and pictures.
Daniel Cooper amassed the disturbing material over a period of 10 years on two mobiles phones and a laptop and also distributed some of it to other people online. Newcastle Crown Court was told that one of the deranged videos involved a distressed six-month-old baby and an adult male.
The "morbidly obese" 34-year-old's sordid secret finally came to light when a friend asked to borrow his iPhone to use Snapchat and accidentally clicked on his camera roll, which revealed some of the images and videos. He was arrested and forensic analysis of two of his phones and his laptop revealed he'd also distributed some of the pictures, prosecutors said.
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Cooper, of Atkinson Terrace, in Wallsend, has now narrowly avoided a stint behind bars after the court heard of his mental health difficulties, including personality and social anxiety disorders, and difficult upbringing. Giving him a 21-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, Judge Robert Adams said: "You satisfy the criteria for a suspended sentence.
"There is a reasonable prospect of rehabilitation in your case with the support that's available to you. There's recommendations from Probation and a doctor that it would be appropriate and of benefit, not just for you but for the public, if such treatment was provided to you."
Cooper pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child, two of distributing them and one of possessing a prohibited image of a child.
The court heard that Cooper was with two female friends at an address when one asked to borrow his phone on March 23 last year. Omar Ahmad, prosecuting, continued: "She intended to access Snapchat but accidentally opened his camera roll and, in that, found indecent images and videos of children.
"She handed the phone back to the defendant without letting him know what she'd seen. [The friend] then informed [the other friend] and, the following day, she too asked to borrow the defendant's phone and she also saw the images and videos on the phone."
The court was told that the police were informed and Cooper was arrested at his home and his two phones and laptop were seized. In total, 467 category A items were found, including 91 videos, 560 category B, including 16 videos, and 556 category C, including four videos. One prohibited image was also discovered.
Mr Ahmad said they had been amassed over a 10-year period between 2010 and 2021 and involved youngsters between the ages of six months and 16 years old. Further forensic analysis of the devices revealed Cooper had distributed 13 category A and 12 category C photos to others on social media platforms Kik, Google Hangout and Telegram.
Stuart Graham, defending, said Cooper had experienced a difficult upbringing and had been bullied at school. A psychiatric report on him also concluded that "isolation, boredom and loneliness" contributed to his offending.
Mr Graham added: "He's deeply troubled and was desperate to get some sort of connection. Downloading the images he knows is wrong. He says he doesn't feel sorry for himself, he feels sorry for those children and the abuse they suffered. That's a massive step to have that recognition."
Mr Graham said Cooper claimed that the distribution offences were him sending the images back to the people who'd sent them to him to acknowledge he'd received them.
Cooper was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years and must sign the Sex Offenders' Register for the same period.
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