January 22, 2019 4.11 pm This story is over 61 months old

Lincoln paedophile with hundreds of images avoids jail

Indecent images of children as young as three years old were found

A Lincoln paedophile with hundreds of images of children, some as young as three-years-old, has avoided a prison sentence.

Jordan Challis was not at home when officers turned up at his Lincoln house but a search was carried out and a computer hard drive and memory card were recovered from a bedroom.

Challis was spoken to later at his work and his mobile phone was seized.

Eunice Opare-Addo, prosecuting, said: “All three items were examined and found to contain indecent images of children.”

A total of 231 indecent images, including 31 videos, were found.

Miss Opare-Addo said that 60 of the images were in the most serious category.

She said: “The defendant was interviewed and made admissions. He stated that the offences occurred during a period of depression and reliance on illicit drugs.”

Challis 23, of Moorland Crescent, Lincoln, admitted three charges of making indecent images of children.

He was given an eight month jail sentence suspended for two years with 150 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement of 50 days.

He was also ordered to complete a sex offender programme, placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and given a 10 year sexual harm prevention order.

Giles Fleming, in mitigation, said that Challis had no previous convictions and urged the judge to follow the recommendations of a pre-sentence report.

Judge Simon Hirst, passing sentence, said “It seems to me that from what is in the pre-sentence report there is a good prospect that you can be rehabilitated.

“If you are then the advantage to the public is far greater than you serving a short sentence of custody and being released with little assistance.”