Rugby train engineer jailed for abuse images featuring infants - The Rugby Observer

Rugby train engineer jailed for abuse images featuring infants

Rugby Editorial 27th Sep, 2016 Updated: 27th Oct, 2016   0

A Rugby man who had printouts of children as young as five being sexually abused, as well as indecent images of even younger children on his computer, has been jailed.

A judge at Warwick Crown Court rejected an argument that Matthew Holland’s sentence could be suspended after hearing that he had a previous conviction for downloading child pornography.

Holland, 44, of Cambridge Street, Rugby, was jailed for 22 months and ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years after he admitted four charges of possessing indecent images of children.

Prosecutor Amy Jackson said police learned Holland’s computer had been used to download indecent material in April.




Officers searched his home and found an envelope containing 16 A4 prints of indecent pictures of children, five of them classed as being in the most serious category A.

Over 500 further images were found on Holland’s computer, some featuring babies and toddlers.


When Holland was arrested and interviewed, he admitted having the prints, which he claimed he had found years ago while clearing out a relative’s loft.

But Holland, who had been jailed for 40 weeks in 2011 for possessing indecent images of children, denied having anything to do with the ones found on his computer.

Lee Marklew, defending, said: “There are two competing arguments. On one hand many would understandably say this man should receive an immediate sentence because he knew, in view of what happened to him on the last occasion, what would happen to him if he viewed such material again.

“On the other hand, without the intervention of the probation service it’s unrealistic to think someone like him can just wash away his irresistible paedophilic urges.

“If he is sent to prison, even given his previous conviction, it will not be for a lengthy period; and it will do little to give the public faith that his risk of re-offending will be diminished.”

And Mr Marklew argued that if Holland, a train engineer, was not jailed, a sex offender programme would give him a chance ‘to develop ways of preventing offending when he’s tempted again to fulfil his inherent desires.’

But jailing Holland, Judge Stephen Eyre QC told him: “A number of these images included very young children, some involved babies and other children of two, three, four, five and six.

“When considering offences of this kind, the court has to bear in mind that these are not victimless offences. The victims are those young children who are compelled to take part in such behaviour.

“Matters are made worse by your previous conviction, by the number of images, and by the ages of the children involved.

“The fact of the matter is that this is offending you chose to engage in and, against the background of having been imprisoned in the past, there must be an immediate sentence of imprisonment.”

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