A FISHGUARD teenager who jumped out of a bathroom window to avoid being found with more than 1,000 indecent images of children has narrowly avoided prison.
Dylan Tayler, 19, of Penbanc, Fishguard, appeared before Judge Her Honour Catherine Richards at Swansea Crown Court this afternoon (May 2) to be sentenced.
The Crown Prosecution Service told the court how on June 15 of last year, police executed a search warrant at the defendants address.
During the search Tayler asked officers if he could use the bathroom, upon entering the room, the teenager jumped out of the window and began to run down the street.
When an officer caught up with the defendant and walked him back to the police vehicle he said: “it’s on the computer in my room”.
When asked why he had run, Tayler told the officer that he did not want to be there when they found it and did not want to answer any questions in front of his family.
Four devices were seized during the search and on them a total of 1,023 indecent images of children were found, from which 84 were in Category A – the most abhorrent kind, 107 were of Category B and 832 were of Category C.
Within the devices police also found searches relating to terminology which can be used when searching for a particular type of porn.
Tayler had used hashtags on twitter to locate images such as; real cp (child porn), Incest, jailbait and lollyporn.
A number of the images were moving images which contained children as young as 5-years-old receiving and performing sexual acts.
Tayler pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing indecent images when he appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on April 18.
Prosecuting, Mr Dixon KC told the court how there were a number of aggravating features to the case and asked Judge Richards to take into consideration the age of the children in question, the totality of the images found and the length of time the images were collected.
Ms George KC, defending, told the court how Tayler was of previous clean character, had been frank and honest during police interviews and had shown remorse repeatedly throughout proceedings.
She asked Judge Richards to consider suspending any custodial sentence so that the defendant could engage with the relevant authorities to lessen the chance of re-offending.
Ms George KC added that the horizon programme – a rehabilitation programme for sex offenders was not available in a custodial sentence and made submissions that her client would benefit from such a rehabilitation order.
Sentencing, Judge Her Honour Catherine Richards said: “You must realise you have contributed to the harm of young children who have been sexually abused and exploited.
“The viewing of those images contribute to that trade and harm.
“They have to come to terms of what happened and that people all over the world have viewed that abuse.”
However, despite the offences being serious enough to cross the custody threshold, Judge Richards accepted the mitigation put forward by Tayler’s defence.
She added: “Whilst you do currently impose a risk to children, you are young and I do consider you a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.
“You are young and if you work with the professionals you can rebuild your life.”
For the offence of possessing indecent images in Category A, Tayler was sentenced to 10 months in a young offenders institution, for the offence of possessing Category B images, Tayler was sentenced to four months, for the offence of possessing Category C images, Tayler was sentenced to two months. All sentences run concurrently.
The sentence was suspended for a period of two years.
Tayler must also work closely with probation, undertake the horizon programme, 40 rehabilitation days and complete 100 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Richards offered a warning to the defendant. She said: “If you reoffend in the next two years, it’s likely you will be sent to prison
“If you breach the terms of your probation order or SHPO ( Sexual Harm Prevention Order) it is likely you will also go to prison.”
A destruction order was granted for the four devices.
Tayler must also sign the sex offenders register for a period of 10 years.
The defendant was released on bail, to attend a hearing at Swansea Crown Court next week to set the details for a sexual harm prevention order.
