September 2023

Man sentenced for making indecent images of children following Southampton arrest

A 41-year-old man has been sentenced to more than two years in prison after being found in possession of indecent images of children.

Shaun Scotthorne, 41, of Runnymede Green, Middlesborough, was sentenced at Southampton Crown Court on Monday (18 September), to 26 months in prison.

He was also issued with an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be required to register his details with the police indefinitely in accordance with the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

This follows a hearing on Tuesday 13 June at Southampton Magistrates’ Court, in which Scotthorne pleaded guilty to taking an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child and three counts of making an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child.

Police arrested Scotthorne at an address in Southampton in June 2021 on suspicion of the above offences and seized two phones and a memory card.

Officers from Hampshire Constabulary’s Internet Child Abuse Team (ICAT) analysed the devices and discovered hundreds of images of abuse involving children, including 137 Category C images, 53 Category B images and 64 Category A images, which are the most serious. Five extreme and 57 prohibited images were also found.