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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
National
Geoffrey Bennett

Filton man who persistently downloaded child abuse photos of young boys is jailed

Poor health did not spare a Filton man who persistently sought out indecent pictures of children online.

In 2015, Norman Gunning was jailed for 15 months for downloading child abuse images from the internet.

Bristol Crown Court heard he breached a Sexual Harm Prevention Order he was handed as a result.

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And, in 2019, when police made an unannounced visit on him, he was found to have indecent photos of young boys on his mobile phone.

Gunning, 58, of Nutfield Grove, pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

Judge James Patrick jailed him for four months.

He told Gunning: "You were receiving sexual gratification looking at indecent images of children being abused.

"Children are at risk because of people like you."

Emma Martin, prosecuting via video link, told the court analysis of Gunning's phone revealed he had six images deemed to be in the highest Category A level of concern.

He also had 28 images deemed to be in Category B and 75 deemed to be in Category C.

Mrs Martin said Gunning also had 200 images of young boys deemed to be "borderline indecent".

He declined an interview, citing risk of Covid, but made a prepared statement saying he knew that having indecent images of children was a criminal offence.

Gregory Gordon, defending, said his client lived an isolated life void of contact other than weekly telephone calls from his mum, who had recently died.

He said his client had one leg amputated below the knee, vascular disease, Type 2 Diabetes, renal failure, hypertension and high blood pressure.

Mr Gordon said: "He needs help. He needs understanding. He needs time and patience.

"He's willing to engage, he's wanting to engage."

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