December 2021

Graphic designer hoarded thousands of child abuse images in his parents’ house

A man has avoided jail after storing more than 7,000 child abuse images in his parents’ house.

Graphic designer Raymond Taylor’s stash of indecent material included two videos in the most serious Category A involving two sets of children aged five to 12 being abused by an adult.

Wearing a grey suit the 46-year-old appeared at Cardiff Crown Court where he was told he would have been sent to prison if he had just one more Category A video.

Taylor admitted he downloaded the two Category A videos, seven images in Category B, and 4,117 images in Category C, all of which he hoarded on his laptop. He also downloaded 3,293 Category C images to his hard drive.

Prosecutor Marian Lewis said Taylor lives with his parents in Sandy Lane, Caldicot. Gwent Police received intelligence in January 2020 that indecent images had been accessed from their address.

She added: “They apparently related to 59 files containing child abuse material involving children as young as six. On March 5, 2020, a search warrant was executed at the address. The defendant and his parents were present.

“Officers explained why they were there and what they were looking for. They asked the three residents where the indecent images could be found.

“The defendant replied that indecent images had been there but there weren’t any at that time. He went further to say: ‘The only thing anything is on is that Macbook there.'”

Police seized the Macbook laptop as well as two iPhones and two hard drives. All were sent for analysis. Indecent images were found on the laptop and one of the hard drives.

 

One of the illegal videos was more than nine minutes long. Analysis showed Taylor had used internet search terms for “young children”.

Taylor, whose head was lowered for much of the hearing, has no previous convictions.

Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said the Crown Prosecution Service had given “no explanation” for the delay, which happened despite Taylor immediately admitting his crimes.

She described the number of images as “very large”, adding: “Viewing, downloading, and possessing these images perpetuates the market for making these images and therefore in child abuse.”

The judge said she was “just about” persuaded the sentence should be suspended, telling Taylor: “If you had more than two Category A videos the custodial sentence would have been immediate.”

She imposed a 14-month jail term suspended for two years as well as 200 hours of unpaid work and an electronic tag for a four-month overnight curfew.

Taylor must also complete 40 days of rehabilitation activity and pay £340 to the court. He must attend a hearing at the same court on December 16 for a sexual harm prevention order to be put in place.