He captured some himself of young girls in supermarkets and shops and presents ‘a risk to children for as long as he is alive’
File photo of a person using laptop(Image: PA)
A paedophile who presents “a risk to children for as long as he is alive” has narrowly avoided jail.
Roy Matthews, 61, was found to have over 1,700 indecent images of children in his possession, including 27 moving images, between 2008 and 2024.
Matthews appeared for sentence at Truro Crown Court today (Thursday, April 9) having pleaded guilty at Bodmin Magistrates’ Court to one count of distributing indecent images of children, six counts of making indecent images of children and two counts of possessing prohibited images of children.
The court heard police were alerted to the defendant by the National Crime Agency in 2024 after his IP address was traced.
Officers attended his property at Pensilva, Liskeard, in February that year, where devices containing the images, including those of category A, B and C, were seized.
Some of the images, the court was told, had been captured first hand by the defendant himself, featuring young girls in public settings including in supermarkets and shops.
The images were then categorised in a filing system on his computer according to the ages of the children and featured lewd names.
A total of 32 indecent images of children printed out on paper were also found in his home, of 1,706 he had altogether.
Defending, Jason Beal said there were a number of “significant mitigating factors” in the case, including the defendant’s early guilty pleas, his lack of previous convictions and his poor physical health.
He said Matthews, who presents “a good prospect” for rehabilitation, has not worked since 1995 due to ill health and that “combination of ill health, loneliness and isolation led to his use of online pornography – but then plainly as the years went by that turned into the sort of behaviour brought to the court today”.
His Honour Judge Simon Carr said he found the case “particularly worrying” due to the large number of images found in the defendant’s possession, the age of the children involved and the period of time over which the offending had taken place.
He said: “It shows an entrenched sexual interest in children which has been with you for life and will be with you until the day you a die.”
He added: “You will present a risk to children for as long as you are alive.”
The judge noted, however, that given the defendant’s age and lack of previous convictions, treatment within the community should “at least be attempted”.
As well as being handed a rehabilitation order, Matthews was sentenced to a total of 15 months in prison suspended for two years. The defendant was also placed on the sex offenders register.
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