Teen sentenced for child abuse images on phone

📱 An ‘isolated’ teenager has been sentenced after police found indecent images of children as young as five on his phone.

Kian Harding, 19, of Millbrook Road in Springfield, Pontllanfraith, was caught after officers received intelligence that child sex abuse images had been downloaded at his address.

Police searched his home on 15 January and examined his phone, finding an indecent image in a communication on the Telegram app. Harding was arrested and his phone and laptop were seized.

When the phone was analysed, officers found seven Category A – the most serious – indecent images of children, made up of one picture and six videos. These included a girl thought to be aged five being raped and a 12-year-old girl being orally raped.

A further 11 Category B and eight Category C indecent images were also found on the phone.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that the girls being abused were aged between five and “about 12”. Chats on the Telegram app showed Harding discussing child sex abuse images and being sent one of the Category C images after requesting ‘CP’ – referring to ‘child pornography’ – from another user.

Officers also found search terms on the phone demonstrating the defendant’s sexual interest in children. The images were dated between 1 January and 15 January this year.

Harding pleaded guilty to three offences of possessing indecent photographs of children.

Jeffrey Jones, in mitigation, said: “This is a defendant who through fear and embarrassment couldn’t admit matters right away. He’s a little isolated as a person.”

Mr Jones added that Harding had no previous convictions and had not long turned 18 when these searches began. “The defendant, to a large extent, has been outed in his community on social media. Which in a way is a form of punishment.”

⚖️ Judge Eugene Egan, addressing Harding, said: “Somewhere in the world real children were sexually abused to create the content that you saw. You should ponder that and reflect upon the suffering experienced by those poor children.”

Judge Egan sentenced the defendant to 30 weeks in a Young Offender Institution, suspended for 18 months. He must complete eight sessions of a mental health treatment requirement and 80 hours of unpaid work.

Harding must also register as a sex offender for 10 years, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for that same period.