May 2001

Man hoarded 10,000 images of children

A MAN with obsessive tendencies “hoarded” more than 10,000 pornographic images of children, a court heard yesterday.

Andrew Kiss , 40, of Middlesbrough, Teesside, admitted ten pairs of charges of making and possessing indecent pictures and images of children, which had been downloaded from a computer between September 1999 and September last year.

Patricia Mancina, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court that when police seized computer equipment from Kiss’s home, they initially found material which had been printed from a computer.

She said subsequent examination showed that, of the 190 floppy discs taken from his home, 56 contained images or video clips of child pornography.

She said: “There were in excess of 10,000 still images and about 900 video clips.”.

Stuart Graham, for Kiss, said his client had not shared the images with others, either for gratification or for monetary gain.

He said Kiss had lost his job and his wife because of his offences.

Mr Graham said: “Curiosity was what caused these problems for him. He does have a problem and he recognises that. He has lost everything because of this.

“But he does understand that this is not a totally victimless crime and that it is wrong, even if it was just curiosity and not pushing through fantasy to the reality stage.”

He said his client knew children were suffering because there was a “market” for this “type of product”.

Judge Les Spittle sentenced Kiss to a three year community rehabilitation order, as a direct alternative to custody, and ordered him to undertake a sex offenders programme.

He also ordered reports on his progress every six months and placed him on the sex offenders register for five years.

Judge Spittle said it was clear Kiss had an “obsessive” personality