Lancaster man had stash of indecent images and movies of children, court told

Matthew Lee Barber, 33, of Nairn Road, Lancaster, was found to have 267 images as well as three movies, Preston's Sessions House Court was told.

The offences took place between January 2017 and July 2020.

He admitted three counts of making - downloading - moving images, one of which related to a category A movie, the most serious in law.

He also admitted possessing indecent photographs.

Judge David Potter imposed a three year community order with a 30 day rehabilitation activity and ordered his laptop to be forfeited and destroyed

He imposed a five years sexual harm prevention order and £350 fine to be paid within six months.

With technology evolving to make illegal images easier to access, the law covering indecent images has also evolved to cover a growing range of offences.

The legal category indecent images fall into determines how the case will be dealt with for the purposes of sentencing. Category A offences carry more serious consequences in contrast to category C images.

The case comes days after a confidential helpline to prevent online abuse in the UK said calls had increased by nearly 50% during the pandemic.

Stop It Now is the UK’s first confidential and anonymous helpline dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse by supporting adults concerned about their sexual thoughts or behaviours.

The Lancashire Post is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. For unlimited access to Lancashire news and information online, you can subscribe here.