A TEENAGER who had pornographic images of children as young as only a few months old on his phone has received a suspended jail sentence.
More than 3,000 images, some described as of “the very worst sort”, were found on two mobile phones owned by Nicholas John McGuchan when police arrested him in January 2022.
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court was told on Wednesday, March 22, that a total of 3,475 images were recovered from the phones and that McGuchan, from Llanbister, near Llandrindod Wells, had been aged between 14 and 18 when he committed the offences.
Of the images discovered, 519 were deemed to be of a Category A nature – the most serious. Another 473 were Category B and 2,483 were Category C. The offences took place between March 9, 2018, and January 6, 2022.
McGuchan admitted the three charges of making indecent images of children.
Prosecutor Peter Donninson said the defendant was in bed when a team of Dyfed Powys Police officers swooped on his home, at School Meadows, Llanbister, to execute a search warrant on January 5, 2022.
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“The search obtained two different devices which revealed indecent images and he was arrested,” said Mr Donninson.
“The defendant was in bed when officers entered his bedroom. Passwords to both devices were provided by him. In custody he made no reply to caution and provided a no comment interview.”
Mr Donninson said a series of images were located in a cloud storage platform used by McGuchan and contained images in Categories A-C.
“There were images of multiple female children aged between 6 and 8," he said. "Some images contained very young children of just a few months old.
“There were key word searches for indecent images and terms including child pornography.”
He said McGuchan had no previous convictions.
John Ryan, defending McGuchan, said: “He admits he fell down a hole and got rather intwined in it. He accepts his wrongdoing and he is deeply ashamed by it.”
Mr Ryan said McGuchan had the full support of his parents and told the court his mum had recently stepped down from a managerial role in social care and gone back to work as an adult support worker.
“Her main purpose is to keep her son on the straight and narrow; both she and his father want to support their son,” added Mr Ryan.
Judge Richard Twomlow said: “He is unusually young to be facing these type of charges. I have read a letter from him and his parents and it seems he is prepared to face up to the fact he has these problems.”
Addressing McGuchan, Judge Twomlow added: “There were a very large number of images of the very worst sort.
“I am satisfied that there is a real prospect of rehabilitation. It won’t be easy and the order is an onerous one, but it’s for your benefit. Only a custodial sentence can be justified.”
McGuchan was given a total sentence of eight months, suspended for two years, with 40 days of rehabilitation activities.
He will also be subject to a notification requirement for 10 years.
He will also be made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, also for 10 years.
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