Known Leeds paedophile escapes jail sentence again due to 'unacceptable' court delay
A paedophile caught with sickening child-abuse images for a second time has been spared jail because of inexplicable delays in bringing his case to court.
Christian Bennett was first warned about his vile interests in 2020 after he was found to have trawled the internet for illegal material, but was caught out again in June 2022.
Frustratingly, it took two years to bring the case to Leeds Crown Court with the 34-year-old appearing this week.
Judge Kate Rayfield called the delay “unacceptable” and told Bennett: “There’s only one reason why I’m not locking you up, it’s because these offences are quite old and I have no idea why it has taken so long to come to court.”
She said because he had stayed out of trouble since, she gave him 12 months’ jail, suspended for 24 months.
The court heard Bennett, of Moseley Wood Approach, Cookridge, was given a 30-month community order in July 2020 at Leeds Magistrates’ Court after downloading indecent images.
He was also given a life-long sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to allow his internet use to be monitored.
The court heard that an officer asked to inspect his digital devices in January 2023 and suspicions were immediately raised when they found encrypted software to hide internet traffic.
They also found 227 images, including 46 in Category A that depicts the most serious abuse including the rape of children. He told officers he was “not hurting anybody”.
Bennett was not represented in court and told the judge: “I’m no harm to the public, I can assure you of that. I’m a very sick person.”
He said he became addicted to regular porn sites and added: “It takes me to places that I can’t pull myself out of.”
Judge Rayfield said she was concerned that Bennett had little insight into his offending amid his claims that he is not harming children directly by downloading the vile images.
She told him: “If there was not a demand to look at this material, it would not exist.”
As well as the suspended sentence, he was ordered to complete a 26-session accredited sex-offender programme, 30 rehabilitation days with probation and was put on the sex offender register for 10 years.
The SHPO will also remain in place.