A man caught with dozens of indecent images of children and who engaged in sordid online chats with like-minded individuals has been spared prison.
Charlie Boocock, 21, from Northallerton, started “roving” the internet for vile images of youngsters during the Covid lockdown, York Crown Court heard.
Police swooped on his home in September 2021 and seized electronic devices including mobile phones and an iPad, said prosecutor Brooke Morrison.
Forensic officers found 162 indecent images, including photos and videos, on the devices.
Of those images, 79 were rated Category A – the worst kind of such material involving the sexual abuse of children.
They also found 13 extreme pornographic images, including photos and movie clips, which featured bestiality.
The analysis also showed that Boocock had been using the KIK messenger app to chat with like-minded individuals about his sexual interest in children.
Boocock, of Bullamoor Road, told officers he had been sending and receiving adult pornography but claimed the indecent images on his phone were “unsolicited”.
He admitted six counts of possessing indecent images of children and one count of possessing extreme pornographic material.
His solicitor advocate Neil Cutte said that Boocock, who was unemployed, had never been in trouble before and was remorseful for his behaviour.
Judge Sean Morris told Boocock: “It would appear that during lockdown you started roving the internet, you started looking at pornography and you started meeting adult people online and started sharing fantasies, and strayed into the dark areas of humanity, and started eventually looking at child pornography.”
However, the judge noted that Boocock had been honest with police from the outset and was someone who found it hard to form relationships
He had also shown remorse and was otherwise of good character.
He also noted a probation report which stated that Boocock was not a high risk to the public and that there was a “realistic prospect that this will never happen again”.
Mr Morris said although “the easy thing for a judge to do in a case like this would be to lock you up”, Boocock would only serve a short sentence.
Instead, Boocock was handed a six-month suspended jail sentence and ordered to complete up to 90 days of a sexual-offending group programme and 30 days’ rehabilitation activity.
He was also ordered to carry out 180 hours’ unpaid work and was made subject to a five-year sexual harm prevention order to curb his online activities.
He was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for seven years.
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