Lancaster man pleads guilty for indecent images of children

A man has admitted having more than 1,500 indecent images of children '“ including some depicting injury.
A man has pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images.A man has pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images.
A man has pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images.

Jonathan Shuttleworth, 56, of Chequers Avenue, Lancaster, pleaded guilty to seven charges relating to images downloaded and stored to his computers, during a hearing before Preston Crown Court.

They include 159 images of youngsters deemed category A – the most serious in law – along with 86 category B images, and 1,074 of category C, as well as several more prohibited images involving children.

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He admits three counts of making and one of possessing indecent images and possessing prohibited images.

The offences date from 2001 to 2014.

In addition he admitted possessing 38 extreme pornographic images portraying an act likely to cause serious injury and possessing four extreme images involving horses and dogs.

Wearing a suit, he was permitted to stand at the back of the court, rather than in the dock, as he entered his guilty pleas to the Honorary Recorder of Preston, Judge Mark Brown.

It is understood Shuttleworth used social media and blogging websites searches for images of children and pre-teen girls.

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James Heyworth, defending, told the court a pre sentence report was needed for his client and said he had employment and was responsible for caring for his elderly parents.

Prosecutor Peter Barr said: “The offences came to light after a young girl in the Cambridge area complained to police about inappropriate messages he was sending her three years ago.”

This did not lead to any charges, but it did lead officers to his front door.

When they seized his computers they found the sordid collection of images.

He was first interviewed in 2015.

He will appear to be sentenced on January 29.