Police found a man with a stash of “disgusting and disturbing” images of children when they went to his home after intelligence information was supplied to them.
Officers seized a phone and its memory card and, when they were analysed, there were 41 explicit images and videos involving girls aged between eight and 14 years old, a court heard.
Keith Welsh, 51, of Welwyn Park Avenue, off Beverley Road, Hull, admitted three offences of making indecent images of children.
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Benjamin Donnell, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that police acted on information that was received from an intelligence agency and visited Welsh’s home on September 13, 2023. Some of the images found were in the most serious category and included 25 videos. They were on the phone and on the memory card.
The dates that they were downloaded were between September 2016 and 2017. Mr Donnell said that they were predominantly images of young girls, aged between eight and 14 years, and on a platform called Telegram.
When he was interviewed by police officers, Welsh denied the offences and said that he had been talking to a man on the phone, who had sent the images. Welsh claimed that his phone had been hacked and he denied downloading the images but he confirmed that the memory card and the phone were his. There was no evidence of him distributing the images.
Mr Donnell said that the offences were aggravated because of the high volume and moving images and the number and vulnerability of the victims. Welsh admitted the offences on the day of a trial, listed in February.
John Dunning, mitigating, said that references spoke highly of Welsh. The probation service believed that he could be rehabilitated and managed in the community. Welsh had a problem, which he had not yet admitted to himself.
Judge Alexander Menary condemned the images as “disgusting and disturbing material.” He added: “These courts are familiar with people who do not admit there is an underlying problem.” Judge Menary said that Welsh had worked hard throughout his life and he had employment.
Welsh was given a one-year suspended prison sentence, 150 hours’ unpaid work and 30 days’ rehabilitation. He will have to register as a sex offender for 10 years, requiring him to notify police of his address and any travel abroad.
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