‘GHASTLY’ images of underage girls being sexually abused were found in the possession of a Rugby man.
After the police had information that someone had uploaded an indecent image of a naked young girl gagged and being whipped, they traced the sender’s address to Rugby.
The IP (Internet Profile) address was found to be that of a computer belonging to a family member of Christian Conopo, a judge at Warwick Crown Court has heard.
But Conopo, 23, of St Anne’s Road, Rugby, was responsible – and he pleaded guilty to nine charges of making indecent images of children and one of distributing an image.
Prosecutor Ben Gow said that after the IP address had been traced, the police seized a laptop and two phones.
On one iPhone they discovered six images classed as being in the most serious category A, showing children as young as six subjected to sexual acts.
Another, the one Conopo had uploaded, showed a girl of no more than eight who was naked, gagged and being whipped.
There were also 30 category A movies, as well as category B movie Mr Gow described as ‘disgusting’.
Further still images were also found on the computer, including seven in category A and three in category C, defined as showing children in naked or indecent poses without sexual activity, added Mr Gow.
Sarah Holland, defending, conceded: “The descriptions of these images are quite frankly ghastly.”
There was no pre-sentence report on Conopo because he had failed to keep an appointment with a probation officer.
But Miss Holland told the judge: “I would seek to persuade you that probation intervention could be of assistance, both for public protection purposes and because he has no previous convictions.”
Agreeing to adjourn the case for a pre-sentence report to be prepared, Judge Richard Griffith-Jones rejected an application for Conopo to be granted bail.
Remanding him in custody, the judge told him: “The very strong likelihood is of a custodial sentence, but there is material which needs investigating which may affect its length.”
