His own barrister described Melvin Andrews’ behaviour as ‘absolutely horrifying’
Melvin Andrews had 1,200 indecent images of children(Image: Humberside Police)
Police caught a man with 1,200 indecent images of children on his computer equipment after being alerted to his “absolutely horrifying behaviour”. Officers carried out a search at his home and discovered a “significant” number of images, some of them featuring very young children.
The pictures helped to fuel the sexual abuse of children – who were “plainly vulnerable” – and the people who looked at the images were playing their part in the trade, Hull Crown Court heard. Melvin Andrews, 68, of Rosedale Grove, off Spring Bank West, Hull, admitted three offences of making indecent images of children on or before September 21, 2022.
James O’Connor, prosecuting, said that police were told that indecent photographs of children had been accessed from the home of Andrews and a search warrant was executed there. Images were retrieved from five pieces of equipment, including a computer and hard drives.
There were 94 images and two videos in the most serious Category A as well as 160 in Category B and 1,007 in Category C. Some of them featured children as young as four and six in the Category A images and others aged between two and four in Category B.
Harry Bradford, mitigating, said that it was not “contact-based” offending and there did seem to be some acknowledgement and acceptance by Andrews of his behaviour. “He does show remorse,” said Mr Bradford.
“He is aware of the harm he will have caused others indirectly. It is absolutely horrifying behaviour.” Andrews, a grandfather, had no previous convictions and he had said that his behaviour was “stupid” and it would not happen again. He had recently retired after being a shipbuilder since 1989, the court heard.
Judge Mark Bury told Andrews: “You have been looking at this stuff for quite a long time. You accessed these images and found them sexually stimulating. The total number of images is significant.
“Some of these children were very young – babies almost – and that’s an aggravating feature because they are plainly vulnerable. These images represent abuse of a child.
“Somebody is abusing a child when these images are recorded and the fact that people such as you watch them increases that level of abuse. If you were to offend again, nobody could save you from prison.”
Andrews was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence and 15 days’ rehabilitation. He was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and he must register as a sex offender for 10 years. He was ordered to pay £155 costs.