Suspended sentence for child porn

A 62-year-old man has been given a 26-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, for downloading indecent pictures of children on his computer.

David Garforth from Penmaenmawr, Conwy, must attend a sex offender programme, be subject to supervision, and must sign the Sex Offenders' Register.

He had pleaded guilty to four charges involving a total of 10 images of children aged between 13 to 16.

An application to ban Garforth from accessing the internet was turned down.

Judge John Rogers QC said prison was inevitable for people making improper use of the internet, but there were a number of reasons why he could suspend the term.

He said it was 13 months since the offence, there were only 10 images and one of them the more serious level four.

Garforth had also pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and he had no history of sexual offending.

His defence counsel had argued that access to the internet provided "a very necessary contact of communication" for people, such as his client, who lived alone.