Cardiff Crown Court (Image: Wales Updates)
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A 49-year-old Cardiff man caught with 1,200 indecent images of children, some showing the abuse of a baby aged between 12 and 24 months, has been given a suspended sentence.
John Price, of Clos Glanaber in Trowbridge, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and three counts of distributing them.
Recorder Paul Lewis KC handed him a 33-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, and dismissed any suggestion that Price was not sexually attracted to children.
Undercover conversations
Prosecutor Christopher Evans told the court that Price had been chatting online with two people he believed shared his interest in child abuse. Both were in fact undercover police operatives.
Price described himself as “no lim”, meaning he had no sexual limitations, and sent the pair indecent images of children as they talked. To one he wrote: “Unfortunately not yet a dad, I need a pedo woman lol”. He said his favourite age was “five plus”.
The second operative posed as a woman with an eight-year-old niece. Price told her he “loved them young” and “had no limits”, this time putting his preference at “four plus”. When she claimed to be abusing the girl, Price said he “would love to have a daughter of his own” and raised the idea of travelling to Kent to meet the pair. He then sent her a video of a child being abused and suggested she show it to her niece.
In all, Price passed on 22 category A images, five category B images and eight category C images.
The arrest
Officers went to Price’s Cardiff home on June 6 after receiving intelligence that he was sharing indecent images of children online. He asked them to speak outside, but once arrested he moved quickly into the kitchen and appeared to throw something. It turned out to be his Samsung phone, which he had tried to hide. Police seized it.
What was on the phone
Examination of the device turned up 467 category A images, the most serious kind, alongside 327 category B images, 406 category C images and 18 extreme pornographic images. The youngest child pictured in the category A material was aged between 12 and 24 months.
Mitigation
The court heard Price has no relevant previous convictions, though his record includes assault by beating and assaulting emergency workers.
Nick Gedge, defending, said most of the images on the phone were inaccessible and that his client denies having a sexual interest in children. He said Price had been using crack cocaine extensively and had fallen down an “internet rabbit hole”. A “community backlash” had forced him out of his home, the barrister added. The former care assistant lost both of his parents and has not worked since.
Sentencing
As well as the suspended term, Price must complete a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement. He was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and sex offender notification requirements indefinitely.
