Rugby man spared jail after downloading indecent pictures of children

A Rugby man who escaped being jailed for downloading indecent pictures of children has been warned by a judge not to blow the chance he had been given.

Gary Goodman had initially tried to blame a friend after police found an indecent image of a child he had printed and thousands more on his computer.

But Goodman (60), of Rugby, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of making indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme pornography.

He was sentenced to nine months in jail suspended for two years and ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work and to take part in a rehabilitation activity.

Recorder Charles Foster, who also ordered Goodman to register as a sex offender for ten years, told him: “You have been lucky. Don’t blow this opportunity.”

Prosecutor Glyn Samuel said that in March 2019 the police turned up at Goodman’s flat at seven in the morning to execute a search warrant.

Officers found a printed indecent image involving an adult and a pre-pubescent child.

Goodman was arrested, and his computer tower, another computer, an external hard drive and a USB stick were seized, along with two other damaged devices.

On them were 82 still images and three videos in category A and 66 category B stills.

There were also a further 3,546 still images of children in naked or indecent poses and two stills of bestiality.

When he was interviewed, Goodman was shown the printed image and suggested it could have been left there by one of his mates who had visited the flat.

He also suggested a friend, who he did not identify, may have used some of his devices.

Mr Samuel pointed out that the images had been stored in various folders identifying their contents, including ‘girls partly dressed’ and ‘naked girls.’

And there was also evidence that Goodman, who had been convicted of indecently assaulting a five-year-old girl when he was in his teens, had carried out searches for subjects including ‘Lolita porn.’

Michael Haggar, defending, said: “He is remorseful. He was a little embarrassed when interviewed by probation, but he does understand the harm these offences cause.”

He said Goodman had been badly scalded when he was a child, leaving him with a scar which affected his confidence, and ‘he became a loner who has never been in a relationship.’

Mr Haggar, who said Goodman had health problems which would make him vulnerable in prison, added: “He needs help from probation to deal with his tastes online, and they are keen to work with him.”

Sentencing Goodman, Recorder Foster told him: “There are a number of aggravating features here, including the ages of the victims, who are described as pre-pubescent.

“These offences are not victimless. People like you create a demand for such material, which wrecks people’s lives.”