Colchester man, 24, downloaded child abuse images, court hears

James Baines appeared in court for sentencing on Thursday after admitting five counts of possessing indecent images.

Police raided Baines’s address in King Stephen Road last year and seized a Samsung mobile phone which was found to have 255 category A images, 138 category B images, and 63 category C images.

Further searches found a Google Drive folder on Baines’s laptop contained three category A videos and two category C images.

Sentence – Baines avoided a prison term when he appeared in court on Thursday (Image: Newsquest)

Category A images are classified as being the most serious as they depict penetration of a child whilst they are in pain or distress.

Baines first appeared at the magistrates' court where he admitted three charges of making an indecent photograph of a child and two charges of possessing an indecent photograph of a child.

The case was then transferred to the crown court so a greater sentenced could be passed.

Lucy Sweetland, prosecuting, told Ipswich Crown Court that Baines said to officers he was “not shocked” when they had turned up at his address to execute a search warrant.

Baines had said the images were initially sent to him by other internet users in an online chat group but he “willingly accepted the images and continued to access the chatroom”, Miss Sweetland said.

The court heard how most of the images were of children around the age of six, with one image depicting a child as young as four months.

Miss Sweetland continued: “Another image shows a child distressed and crying during the abuse.”

Frank O’Toole, mitigating, said Baines, 24, had no previous convictions and was working full-time in a supermarket.

He added: “He is not trying to blame anyone else and he is not saying he was bamboozled or taken advantage of because of his age – he doesn’t know why he did it.

Offences – Baines admitted to five charges relating to inappropriate images of children (Image: Newsquest)

“The difficulty he has had from early adulthood was that he lost his hair and became very, very self-conscious because of that – he had decided to go to university but abandoned that idea because he felt his peer group wouldn’t relate to him.

“He self-imposed a personality that removed him from the normal exchanges he would have had with that group - to an extent, he was isolated."

Judge David Pugh sentenced Baines to an eight-month prison term suspended for two years, ordered him to complete 30 days of rehab activity requirements, and imposed a £340 payment for costs.

Baines has also been placed on the sex offenders' register for ten years.