A Llandovery man with a “disturbing and long-standing sexual interest in children” was caught with a child sex abuse video playing on his phone when police executed a search warrant at his home.
Lawrence Cooper, 69, of Lon Rhys Pritchard, was found with the video of “two young females engaging in sexual activity” playing on his bed when officers burst through his door on 19 September last year.
Police seized two phones, two laptops, a hard drive and an SD card from the property. Cooper immediately admitted they would find child sex abuse images on the devices.
Analysis revealed one laptop contained 1,034 indecent images of children – including 134 Category A images (the most serious type), 165 Category B, and 735 Category C. The devices also held 53 Category A videos, 31 Category B videos, and 19 Category C videos.
Prosecutor Brian Simpson told Swansea Crown Court the images featured children aged between two and 16. One Category A video showed a girl aged between seven and nine being restrained and orally raped.
Searches on Cooper’s laptop revealed he had been actively seeking child sexual abuse material and incestuous videos online.
Cooper answered “no comment” to questions in police interviews on 19 September last year and 20 September this year, but later pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images of children.
Hannah George, defending, said Cooper’s strongest mitigation was his early guilty pleas and previous clean character. She told the court Cooper denied having a sexual interest in children, but admitted he “did obtain sexual gratification from viewing those images”.
“There’s a great deal of shame this defendant feels,” she added. “He’s taken time to reflect on his position. He’s motivated to work with the probation service.”
Sentencing Cooper, Judge Paul Hobson said: “It’s plain as day you have a disturbing and long-standing sexual interest in children. You were actively seeking it out. When arrested, it’s no coincidence at all you were in the process of viewing such material when the police came through your door. Such images involve real children being raped. All of that in order that men like you can masturbate.”
Cooper was sentenced to a three-year community order, as part of which he must complete 180 hours of unpaid work and 25 days of rehabilitation activity. He must register as a sex offender for five years, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.
