Blind man spared jail over child porn

A blind man from Worcestershire who downloaded more than 20,000 indecent images of children from the internet has been spared jail.

Paul Hawkesford, 39, of Kidderminster, had admitted 10 charges of making indecent pseudo-photographs of children and five counts of distributing them at an earlier hearing.

Judge David McEvoy QC, sentencing Hawkesford at Worcester Crown Court, told him his offences had been serious.

"To make the photographs the children had to do the posing," he said.

You realise you have a problem and are working to overcome this

Judge David McEvoy

" You downloaded the images and you got some sort of sexual gratification from it.

"You realise you have a problem and are working to overcome this."

Adam Weston, prosecuting, said Hawkesford, 39, of Lucy Edwards Court, Kidderminster, committed the offences between October 2000 and March last year, at his former home in Wolverley.

He was arrested when police raided the house in a nationwide investigation into internet pornography.

David Mason, defending, said Hawkesford had lost sight in one eye as a baby and the other had deteriorated since he had an accident as a teenager.

At the time of the offences, he could only see the images with a very strong magnifying glass.

Virtual prisoner

Since his arrest Hawkesford had twice tried to commit suicide and had become a virtual prisoner in his home because his guide dog had been taken away over allegations that it was neglected.

Mr Mason conceded that the charges were specimens as more than 20,000 downloaded images were discovered.

Hawkesford was given a three-year Community Rehabilitation Order and told to attend a sex offenders' programme.

He was also put on the sex offenders' register for five years.

The judge warned him that he faced jail if he breached any part of his sentence.