Fury as two paedophiles who hoarded 35,000 child abuse images avoid jail time in ANOTHER example of soft-touch justice
TWO paedophiles who hoarded 35,000 child abuse images have avoided jail time in another example of soft-touch justice.
Laurence Machin and Benjamin Farrant got suspended prison terms despite being told: “Individuals like you do not stop offending.”
The Sun’s Keep Our Kids Safe campaign, backed yesterday by National Crime Agency boss Graeme Biggar, calls for paedos found with the most appalling Category A images to be locked up.
Machin, 26, of Bewdley, Worcs, admitted possessing 33,000 images, including 330 Category A, which he downloaded from the dark web.
He had 94 videos with a duration of 17 hours.
Prosecutor Harinderpal Dhami told Worcester crown court some snaps showed abuse of girls aged three.
Machin’s barrister, Abigail Nixon, said the fiend’s autism meant he should not go to jail.
Judge James Burbidge gave him a 14-month term, suspended for 18 months.
He said: “These children in these images are real victims being abused. Every time someone looks at them, it makes the people who make them realise that there is an appetite for these images, which in turn leads to more abuse of more children.”
Leeds crown court heard IT technician Farrant, 31, trawled the internet for pics and videos for two years and swapped them with other sickos.
A raid on his home in Ossett, West Yorks, last year uncovered more than 1,500 images on three devices, of which 195 were Category A.
Farrant admitted making and possessing indecent images and got 20 months’ jail, suspended for two years.
Recorder Ray Singh told him: “Individuals like you do not stop offending.”
The NCA’s Mr Biggar told us yesterday of his hopes for tougher punishments under the Government’s newly-launched sentencing review.