Pensioner Graham Parkinson was found with a series of photographs which he took of a family with two children on Seaton beach during last year’s August bank holiday.

Police also found more than 1,300 child abuse images or videos on his phone or computer including 464 which showed child rape or serious abuse, sometimes of babies or toddlers.

His collection included more than 100 artificially created images which he had downloaded from the internet over a period of months.

Parkinson completed a sex offenders’ treatment course after being caught for identical offences in 2015 and has a total of 26 previous convictions. He was on the sex offenders’ register and subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

He was caught because his police offender manager carried out routine checks. He admitted having a compulsion to seek out child images which he could not overcome.

Parkinson, aged 71, of Lower North Street, Exeter, admitted six counts of making, by downloading, indecent images of children and was jailed for 20 months by Judge Stephen Climie at Exeter Crown Court.

He was put on the sex offenders register and made subject of a new SHPO, both of which will last a further ten years.

The judge told him: “You reverted to your old ways, and not to a limited extent. There were close to 1,500 images and a very large number in category A.

“There were images of children under five being brutalized and raped and showing them in significant distress. That is an aggravating factor, as are your previous convictions.”

Mr Herc Ashworth, prosecuting, said two batches of material were found by police in September last year. There were 129 computer generated images, of which 52 were in the worst category A and 1.370 images or videos.

These included 92 movies and 324 still images at category A.

Mr Ashworth said: “A laptop in his bedroom contained several search terms and the internet history showed he had searched for ‘rape of babies’.

“The majority of the children were aged three to ten and some depicted abuse and degradation of very young children who were visibly distressed.

“A phone memory card linked to the camera contained five images taken on Seaton seafront which showed a family with two children, one male one female, she being aged about six to eight. One image showed her getting changed.

March 2016

Churchgoer was repeat viewer of child abuse images

A church goer has been sent on a sex offenders’ course after being found with images which showed very young children suffering serious sexual abuse.

Graham Parkinson carried on accessing the images on file sharing websites even after police seized his computers. He bought a new laptop and carried on, Exeter Crown Court was told.

The 64-year-old was found with offensive images on both his old computer and the new one which he used while on bail.

Parkinson, of North Street, Exeter, admitted making or possessing indecent images of children and was jailed for 14 months, suspended for two years, and ordered to attend an internet sex offenders’ treatment programme.

Recorder Mr Philip Mott, QC, told him: “The aggravating features are that this was against a background of earlier offending, which had been discovered and the offences were committed by using a new computer and hard drive purchased after your arrest.

“In addition there is discernible pain and distress to be seen being suffered by children in two of the images depicted. Some of the children were very young.

“You are aged 64 and it is the interest of the public that you undertake a sex offenders treatment programme.”

William Parkhill, for the prosecution, said the new offences occurred during the lengthy period when Parkinson was originally arrested in 2014 and when he received a ten month suspended sentence for the earlier images in November 2015.

He said there is no evidence he had carried on downloading material after that sentence was passed.

Parkinson was initially identified by another agency from his use of peer to peer file sharing software and the examination of his laptop showed 126 images at the worst category of A, 453 at B and 913 at C.

Warren Robinson, for the defence, said Parkinson has been in custody over these offences since December but has been addressing his issues with the help of the probation service.

He said: “He has been engaging constructively in prison. He is a supervisor in the workshop and is giving counselling classes through his church connections.

“He says he was not a hypocrite. He is horrified by what he did and deeply ashamed.”

January 2016

Sentence delayed as police find more child abuse images

The sentence on a man guilty of downloading child abuse images has been adjourned after police experts found more material on his machine.

Graham Parkinson, aged 64, was already on a suspended sentence for identical offences when his Exeter home was raided again in December.

Parkinson, of North Street, Exeter, has admitted five counts of making indecent photographs of children.

Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, adjourned his sentence at Exeter Crown Court to allow the police’s high tech crime unit to prepare an updated report on new images.

He remanded Parkinson in custody and asked the police to establish whether the newly discovered images were downloaded after the previous suspended sentence was imposed in November.

Mr Neil Traherne, prosecuting, said the further inquiries had been prompted by a basis of plea submitted by Parkinson at a previous hearing.

He said:”A further examination of his computer equipment has been carried out by the high tech crime unit, who have found evidence of a further 259 category A images and an additional 4,500 other images in categories B and C.

“It is important that some of these images seem to have got into his system after the last suspended sentence.”

Mr Peter Seigne, defending, said the adjournment is not opposed.

Indecent images are categorised by the police in three categories, of which the most serious is A, which shows adults having sex with children, sadism, bestiality, or other serious abuse.

Categories B shows sexual activity between children and C shows child nudity