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05
Nov 2021
Harrogate man jailed for 'despicable' pictures of extremely young child
A man has been jailed for two years for taking “despicable” photos of an extremely young child and distributing them on the worldwide web.
Joseph Pearce, 39, from Harrogate, committed the acts at a property in the area and one of the images drew particular condemnation from the sentencing judge for how it showed the naked child.
This and two other photos were shared on the internet by Pearce who downloaded and sent the images out on the KIK messaging app, York Crown Court heard.
He had also been sent indecent images of children by others on the same app, said prosecutor Victoria Hajba-Ward.
She said that Pearce’s odious offences were aggravated by the extremely young age of the child and the “potential for a high volume of viewers” of the images he sent out.
The child cannot be named for legal reasons.
Pearce handed himself in to police but had already disposed of his mobile phone on which he had taken the images.
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It took police two days to find the phone and incriminating evidence, but Pearce made a “full confession” when interviewed by officers.
It is understood that police in North Yorkshire may have liaised with authorities in the United States during their investigation.
Pearce appeared for sentence on Friday after pleading guilty to three counts of taking indecent images of the child, three counts of distributing them and one count of making or downloading the images. The offences occurred in April last year.
Harry Crowson, mitigating, said that Pearce, who is a father, had never been in trouble before and had been taking steps to reform himself through therapy and an offenders’ rehabilitation charity.
He said Pearce’s “world came crashing down” after the offences came to light. He had told a probation officer that “I’m glad I’ve been arrested”.
Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, branded Pearce’s offences “despicable”.
He said the photos he shared of the child on the internet “for (the gratification of) paedophiles, will be out there forever”.
Mr Morris added:
He said the worst of these images was “there for others to see and it’s going to be flying round the world”.
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The judge described Pearce as “self-obsessed” and said it was clear from the pre-sentence report that his responses to questions by probation officers were “scripted”.
He told Pearce:
He said that by uploading his own vile photos, Pearce may have encouraged others “to get into (viewing indecent images), and so other children may be abused because of you”.
Jailing Pearce for two years, he told him:
Pearce was also placed on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years and made subject to a 10-year sexual-harm prevention order, mainly to curb his internet activities.
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