Married dad Joseph Pond avoids jail for possessing images of child abuse

Police seized electronic devices when they visited Joseph Pond’s address, which when analysed uncovered the material.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that the 53-year-old, now of Olympia Drive in Belfast but formally of Morpeth, was at home with his family last year when officers arrested him.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images and was sentenced to two years behind bars, suspended for two years.

Prosecutor Omar Ahmad said: “Police executed a warrant at the defendant’s home on the 5th of January last year following intelligence received from theNational Crime Agency that indecent images had been uploaded to the internet via Yahoo that had an IP address linked to the defendant’s address.

“The defendant was cautioned and arrested and the defendant was present with his wife and his two children at the time.

“Devices were seized, including a mobile phone the defendant was holding at the time - that phone was forensically analysed and was found to contain indecent images.”

The court heard that there were 2,224 category A images found with 37 videos, as well as 2,211 category B images and eight videos.

There were also 4,649 category C images and five videos uncovered.

Mr Ahmad said that there were a further 2,493 images that were classed as borderline, but not illegal.

He added: “I would submit the images are as serious as they get in cases of this nature."

The court was told that the ages of the children depicted in the material ranged from infants to 11-years-old.

Pond told police in his interview that his username was ‘Jimmy Saville’ and when asked why, he said it was so other users knew of his intentions.

He also stated he would view the images and the delete them using a special software remover, but then would re-download them again at a later date.

Claire Anderson, defending, told the court that the defendant had suffered childhood trauma growing up, which had never been properly addressed.

Ms Anderson said: “There is very little that can be said to explain or mitigate it.

“The defendant has currently not tried to deny he has a very clear sexual interest in children.”

However, Ms Anderson added that Pond's childhood experiences had effectively caused him to lead two “different versions of himself”.

In sentencing, Mr Recorder Mark McKone said: “The public expect an immediate prison sentence for offences like these.

“I've got to use my judgement and experience to decide what makes it most likely that you will stop this sort of offending.

“I'm having to balance the grave seriousness of these offences with the prospect of rehabilitation.”

The judge told Pond that he had “battled” with the case and accepted that he had previously led a law-abiding life. The judge also said he took Pond’s instant admission in interview into account.

He added: “People never get a second chance for these types of offences.”

Pond was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and must sign the sex offender’s register, both for 10 years.