A prison officer has dodged a second stint in jail after being found guilty of having indecent images of children on his mobile.
Levi Simic, 22, claimed in court that the images of children were sent to him on WhatsApp, after it was discovered he smuggled two phones to convicts in 2019.
Simic was employed at the prison between January and October 2019.
He managed to avoided a jail sentence after the judge confirmed Simic was ‘responding well’ after being released from prison himself and had even got a new job.
Simic worked at the Sodexo run prison in Salford but he was sacked and jailed for six months when he was caught with two iPhones in his work boots as he started duty.
He made the claim in court that he was pressured into smuggling the phones by criminals, according to a report in Manchester Evening News.
Simic was jailed for six months for that offence at a hearing in October last year.
As part of the investigation, his car was searched and his own iPhone was seized.
This was mainly done to see if there was any communication relating to the smuggling, Mark Brookes prosecuting said.
However, when the subsequent download was examined it was revealed there were indecent images of children on the device.
Yesterday, September 1 at Manchester Crown Court, Simic again admitted to a series of offences in relation to these.
There were a ‘low number’ of images on the phone, the court was told, however some of were of the most serious category.
Three had also been forwarded onto others.
Simic told police in interview that he had been sent them by WhatsApp group chats and had ‘done nothing with them’ Mr Brookes said.
Mr Brookes added it was claimed they had been ‘exchanged for amusement rather than for a sexual reason.’
“The prosecution doesn’t accept that this mitigates the offences,” he said.
Rebecca Caulfield, defending, said Simic had been sent the first when he was just 19 years old and that he had been sent the messages “on WhatsApp by older peers - his dad, his uncles, his boss.”
Adding that he had “stupidly forwarded them on to others.”
“He has not sought them out on the internet,” she said.
Simic pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three counts of possession of indecent images, two counts of distributing indecent images and possession of extreme pornography.
Ms Caulfield said the offences crossed the custody threshold but asked that any prison sentence be suspended.
However, Judge Elizabeth Nicholls said the fact he had served a prison sentence in the intervening period meant this was an ‘exceptional case.’
Although she issued a stern warning to those circulating such images.
“Whilst people may think it’s amusing and humorous, it isn’t,” she said.
“One is is always concerned people aren’t revolted by them immediately and aren’t picking up people for even sending them.
“These are real children and these are things happening to real children which is why they are so gross and why the court views them as so serious.”
However, she said Simic’s life must have been ‘turned upside down’ by his prison sentence and that he was responding ‘positively’ to supervision as well as securing new employment.
As a result, it would be ‘inappropriate’ to send him back to prison, she said.
Simic was instead sentenced to a two-year community order and was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.
He must also attend the iHorizon programme which works with male internet sex offenders.
He was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years which among its terms states he must not delete or use anything which deletes his internet history and that his personal devices must be available for inspection by a supervising officer.
