Teen who distributed child abuse images sentenced at court

A teenager who possessed “sickening” images of children, including a baby being sexually abused, has been sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court.

Owain Hammett, 18, of George Close, Gwaelod y Garth, was visited by police at his home in Cardiff on 13th January last year when he was 17 years old. The investigation was launched after a category A image of a child being abused had been uploaded to Snapchat in 2024.

What the court heard

Two mobile phones were seized and Hammett provided the PIN numbers. The digital forensic unit discovered indecent images of children aged between 0 and 16, as well as extreme and prohibited images across categories A, B, and C.

The illegal material was found in conversations on Sessions, a private messaging platform, which had been shared between participants.

Distribution of images

Prosecutor Zoe Laughrne told the court the defendant was also found to have distributed images. When one user asked him “Have you got any images”, Hammett responded: “How young do you want?”

Hammett pleaded guilty to making and distributing indecent images, and possessing extreme and prohibited images. He has no previous convictions.

Mitigation

Defence solicitor Ieuan Bennett said his client “comes from a respectable background” and since the incident has been “kept on a short reign” by his parents regarding internet access. He said the defendant is at university in Chester, and described him as “intelligent, a good sportsman, speaks Welsh and had his whole life ahead of him”.

Since his arrest, Hammett has carried out work with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and undertaken a number of courses.

Sentencing

Judge Shomon Khan said: “The examples of what were found were sickening, a baby being raped. My stomach, despite my experience in court, is sickened to its core. If you committed these offences as an adult, you would be sentenced to imprisonment today. You now understand the full horror of your criminality. You now understand these are real children suffering physically and psychologically. That harm may be lifelong.”

Hammett was sentenced to an 18-month community order, ordered to carry out 80 hours unpaid work, a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement, and to pay costs of £150.