Father of four avoids prison after admitting having indecent images of children on phone and laptop

Shrewsbury Crown Court judge Anthony Lowe said he had never before sentenced a father for such offences, as offenders he deals with exclusively live alone or with their parents.

Bryan Stringer, aged 34, from Sandcroft, in Sutton Hill, Telford, Shropshire, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child and one count of possession of an indecent image of a child.

A sentencing hearing at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Friday heard from the prosecution that he had no previous similar convictions.

Barrister Kevin Jones, prosecuting, told the court that the offences between August 2020 and June 2021 included 45 indecent images and 13 images of extreme pornography, including of bestiality and activity capable of damaging genitalia. He was also found to have 59 images that had been deleted from his mobile phone and laptop.

He said the images were "split between those deleted and not" and involved images of children aged from five to 16 years old.

He was found to have 32 photos and videos of the worst kind, Category A; 20 of category B and 52 of category C as well as 13 extreme pornographic images.

Mr Jones said police had exercised a warrant at his home after being alerted to his internet activity.

Barrister Debra White, mitigating, said her client had one previous conviction for a dissimilar crime and two reprimands against his name as a youth.

"There is nothing in his background that suggests this sort of activity," said Miss White.

She said rehabilitation would be the best way of dealing with the offences.

Judge Anthony Lowe said the defendant had a "very unusual background" and one which he had never dealt with before.

"I have not ever seen a defendant on this charge who has been living with children. They are either on their own or living with parents," he said. "It is surprising.

"There have been checks by social services which say he can remain living with children."

Miss White agreed that it is unusual and speculated that Stringer had been a heavy drinker and was "looking at the internet for material intended for adults".

"Sometimes there are people who set out with that intention and the lines are blurred."

Judge Lowe, in summing up, told Stringer: "You have children. How would you feel if one of them is subjected to this?

"These are real children in those images, they are not computer-generated."

He added that there was "no cure" for Stringer's sexual urges.

"You just have to resist the urges and not look at this sort of material again," he said.

The judge said he could not deal with him differently just because he was a father of four instead of having the usual offender profile.

Handing down a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years for the most serious offences, Judge Lowe warned Stringer: "Any further offences and you will go to prison."

He ordered Stringer to take part in 15 rehabilitation activity days with the probation service and said he would be under a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

He must not delete his browsing history, not install software that hides his browsing and allow any person with authority to look at his devices.

"Whatever thrill you get from it, you have to make sure you never go back to it again," Judge Lowe told Stringer as he was allowed to leave the court.