December 2022

Man who shared images of youngsters being raped spared jail because ‘he was a child’ himself

A man involved in trading sick videos of children being raped and his fantasies of killing youngsters has narrowly avoided being locked up due to his age at the time.

Police found out about Norbert Owczarek, 21, during their investigations into another paedophile with whom he had been sharing images online.

When he was arrested at his home in Freehold Street, Loughborough, the officers found 1,567 videos and pictures on his iPhone and in the iCloud.

There were more than 48 hours of video, with lots of the material involving children less than a year old.

More than 25 of the images and videos had been distributed to others.

Sickening messages between Owczarek and other perverts revealed his fantasies about raping and killing youngsters.

But Owczarek’s barrister, Laura Blackband, argued that the images and movies had all been created when he was aged from 14 to 18, and that therefore the sentence could be suspended.

The judge said Owczarek’s messages to other paedophiles about his fantasies made the case worse, and that had Owczarek been older and had denied the offending he would be facing four years behind bars.

But Recorder Bhatia agreed to let Owczarek stay out of custody. He told him: “This is an extremely bad case of possession of a significantly high number of images of children.

“The most serious aspect is the distribution of images. You also engaged in conversations with other paedophiles.”

He gave Owczarek a two-year sentence, suspended for two years, along with 180 hours of unpaid work and 40 days working with probation to avoid future offending.

He told Owczarek: “You have escaped by a whisker and you have a debt of gratitude to your counsel, Ms Blackband.”

Owczarek was also made subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and will remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely.