Burnley man caught with pornographic images of horses
1:00pm Saturday 29th September 2012 in News
AN international operation led to a Burnley man being caught with child porn and sexual images of horses, magistrates heard.
Police in Gloucestershire were liaising with colleagues in America over the existence of several x-rated websites when their inquiries led them to the door of 48-year-old Peter Anthony Candler.
And even though Candler told police that he had deleted the images from his computer, he was still hauled in for questioning, the Burnley court was told.
Peter Wild, prosecuting, said 50 indecent images of children were found on his computer hard drive along with photos of a sexual nature involving horses.
Candler, of Grange Street, admitted six offences of making indecent images and two charges of possessing extreme pornographic images.
Glenn Smith, defending, said the discovery of the images on the defendants’ computer had shocked friends and colleagues.
Candler was a single man aged 48 who had no previous convictions and had always led a responsible life, Mr Smith told the court.
“There is certainly no suggestion that he has been sharing or there has been any movement of these images,” said Mr Smith.
He told the court that Candler would lose his home, if he was jailed, and faced losing his job, which was not revealed in court, in any event.
Mr Smith also said that there was very little chance his client, who accepted he had done wrong, would offend again in future.
Candler was told by magistrates that his offending had ‘harmed the most vulnerable members of our society’.
He was given an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for two years with £50 costs.
Magistrates ordered Candler to remain under probation service supervision and attend the sex offenders’ treatment programme.
He must also sign the sex offenders register for the next seven years and was warned that if he did not comply with the court orders he would face custody.
