A RISCA man was yesterday found guilty of making and possessing indecent images of young children.
Michael Evans, 67, of Vale View, was found guilty at Newport Crown Court of nine counts of making indecent images of children between October 2009 and February 2010.
He was also found guilty of one count of possessing 209 indecent images of children.
During his trial Heath Edwards, representing Evans, said that his client looked at some of the images after becoming aware that a family member was looking at child pornography on his laptop. He said pop-ups with images began appearing and in a bid to delete them Evans transferred the files onto CDs and a pen drive.
He said Evans accepted he was “unwise” and had committed an offence in looking at the images, but that it was a “far cry” from being responsible for everything that was on the computer.
Prosecutor Christopher Rees said it was accepted that a user of the computer was looking at child pornography, but the jury had to decide who the user was – Evans himself or a family member.
Mr Rees said it was a “wicked lie” for Evans to suggest his relative was responsible for downloading the images.
The press reported yesterday how Evans was arrested in February last year when police found 209 child abuse pictures plus a further 3,500 non-nude, legal pictures of children in his possession.
The images were found on Evans’ laptop after he took it to a computer shop for repair.
Jury members previously heard Evans had already pleaded guilty to seven charges of making indecent images relating to the least serious images.
Evans was released on bail and will be sentenced on September 16.
