Pervert who downloaded ‘depraved’ images of young girls back behind bars - The Rugby Observer

Pervert who downloaded ‘depraved’ images of young girls back behind bars

Rugby Editorial 22nd May, 2020 Updated: 22nd May, 2020   0

A PERVERTED Leamington man began downloading ‘depraved’ images of young girls within days of being released from a prison sentence he had been given for similar offences.

And over a four-year period, including a time when he was on licence, Mark Patterson searched for and downloaded more than 5,000 images, many showing children being sexually abused.

The 49-year-old, of Charles Gardner Road, was jailed for 27 months by a judge at Warwick Crown Court who also ordered him to register as a sex offender for 20 years.

He had pleaded guilty to six charges of making indecent images of children and one of possessing four images of extreme pornography showing sex acts with animals.




Prosecutor Christopher Hewertson said that in 2014 Patterson had been jailed for two-and-a-half years for making and distributing indecent images of children.

He was released from that sentence in January 2016 and subsequently assessed as posing only a medium risk of re-offending.


But in fact he had gone straight back to his old ways, and in February this year the police raided his home and seized a computer tower, a laptop and an external hard drive.

And an examination of the three devices ‘revealed several thousand images of children,’ said Mr Hewertson.

The most serious were 45 movies and 260 still images which were classed as being in category A – one of which was described as particularly disgusting.

There were ten movies and 226 stills in category B of children involved in non-penetrative sexual activity, and a staggering 4,848 stills and three movies in category C – of children in naked or indecent poses.

Andrew Tucker, defending, said this case differed from the previous offences as there was no attempt at distribution.

Mr Tucker added: “He is a man who is very socially isolated, and his health is not the best. He suffers from pain to his joints and depression, and has not been able to work for a good many years.

“Even though this was depraved conduct of a revolting nature, I would ask Your Honour to take account of those points.”

Jailing Patterson, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told him: “This type of offending has victims, young girls who are abused. For life their images will remain on someone’s computer.

“You were jailed in 2014. It was only days after you were released from that sentence that you began to offend in the manner reflected on this indictment.

“When your computers were seized, the position is that you had, across the course of four years, downloaded and viewed and obtained sexual gratification from these images.

“This was a vast collection. Someone like you knew where to find this material, and you viewed it and deleted it because you knew where it could be found again.”

The judge, who said Patterson had been deceiving the probation officer who worked with him while he was on licence, also imposed a sexual harm prevention order restricting his future contact with children and his use of computers.

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