November 22, 2016 10.34 am This story is over 88 months old

Lincoln man spared jail after child porn found on laptop

A Lincoln man who admitted having indecent images of children on his laptop was today given a suspended sentence. Rory Duncombe, 20, was spared immediate custody after a judge accepted he had been unusually “frank” about his interest in children. Lincoln Crown Court heard Duncombe came to the attention of police after he was linked…
Lincoln Crown Court. Photo: Martin Pettitt

A Lincoln man who admitted having indecent images of children on his laptop was today given a suspended sentence.

Rory Duncombe, 20, was spared immediate custody after a judge accepted he had been unusually “frank” about his interest in children.

Lincoln Crown Court heard Duncombe came to the attention of police after he was linked to an IP address which he had been using.

Jon Straw, prosecuting, said police attended Duncombe’s Lincoln home and recovered various items including a laptop computer.

Before his arrest Duncombe told the officers: “I just want to admit something now, they are still on my laptop.”

Straw told the court Duncombe’s laptop was interrogated by police experts. It was found to contain between 20 and 30 indecent images at level A, with larger numbers of the less serious categories B and C.

During interview Duncombe admitted his conduct but expressed some surprise at the number of images.

Straw said it was maybe an issue that some of the images had been inadvertently downloaded but Duncombe accepted downloading some images from every category.

The court heard Duncombe had no previous convictions.

Alison Summers, mitigating, said there were only a small number of images in the most serious category.

Duncombe, from the south of Lincoln, admitted three charges of possessing indecent images following the raid on May 13 last year.

He was sentenced to eight months custody suspended for two years, two years probation supervision and 100 hours of unpaid work in the community.

He must also register as a sex offender for ten years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order. He must also forfeit his computer hard drive and a USB stick.

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Hirst told Duncombe his actions were not a “victimless crime”.

But he added that Duncombe had accepted a sexual interest in children which was “very rare in such cases” and society would benefit from his further cooperation with the probation service.