Hyde Park paedophile downloaded indecent child images for five years before he was arrested at work by police

A paedophile was arrested at his workplace after West Yorkshire Police received information that he had been downloading indecent images of children.
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Computer equipment was seized from his home in Leeds and it was discovered that he had been committing offences for five years.

Leeds Crown Court heard police arrested Peter Hall in February 2019 after an internet provider address in his name was used to access an illegal image of child.

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His home was then searched and a hard drive and another electronic device were seized.

Leeds Crown CourtLeeds Crown Court
Leeds Crown Court

Robert Stevenson, prosecuting, said more than 500 illegal images were recovered.

Five of the images were at category A - the most serious level of offending.

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Investigations revealed Hall had made over 100 internet search terms for illegal images.

The offending took place between 2014 and 2019.

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Hall was interviewed and said he was unaware of any indecent images on his computers.

The defendant denied having a sexual interest in children.

Hall's account was rejected by sentencing judge Simon Batiste.

Hall, 60, of Midland Road, Hyde Park, pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images of children.

Sean Smith, mitigating, said Hall pleaded guilty to the offences at an early stage.

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Mr Smith said his client had sought help to address his offending since his arrest.

Hall was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to complete 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Judge Batiste said: "You put forward in your pre-sentence report the proposition that this was done for non-sexual purposes. I wholeheartedly reject that.

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"I am satisfied that you were accessing these images for your own sexual gratification.

"It is clear to me that you are someone who uses computers a great deal and are someone who was gaining a lot of satisfaction from these images."