Paedophile who said ‘nude children’ into phone to prove it didn’t work jailed for 8 months
A PAEDOPHILE was caught with child pornography after taking his mobile phone to complain about problems accessing websites - and speaking the words "nude children" into it.
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A shocked phone shop salesman alerted a manager after the "brazen" pensioner gave him the bizarre "demonstration" of what was wrong with the phone.
He repeated the spoken command "nude children" in front of the manager, a court heard.
Frederick Cunningham, 79, of Fieldside, Epworth, Scunthorpe, pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent photographs of children and another of possessing extreme pornography involving a horse.
Prosecutor Jeremy Evans told Grimsby Crown Court that Cunningham went in to a Carphone Warehouse store in Scunthorpe on December 23, last year, and reported a problem with his mobile.
He said it would not search for or access some websites.
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Each image of child abuse represents an episode of vile abuse on a child
He gave a demonstration to a "shocked" customer adviser and spoke the words "nude children" into the phone.
He showed the adviser the phone showing that no search results had been returned.
The member of staff alerted a manager and Cunningham repeated his demonstration of the problem. The phone was seized and the police were told.
Cunningham was arrested on Boxing Day and four other phones were seized.
A total of 261 images of children, including babies and toddlers, were found as well as 29 bestiality images.
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Mr Evans said that the reason the phone would not have carried out the search wanted by Cunningham was because the images would be on the "dark web" and not mainstream search engines.
"One would have to access the dark web, which is not covered by main servers," said Mr Evans.
"If they are legitimate businesses, they don't have, or shouldn't have, such material."
Cunningham had convictions for 73 previous offences, including 14 for sexual matters, and his convictions stretched back 60 years.
He had sexual convictions in 1957, 1960, 1962, 1995 and 1998.
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Ashleigh Metcalfe, mitigating, said that Cunningham made admissions and had "kept himself out of bother" for some time.
He was in poor health, had extremely poor eyesight and was registered as half-blind.
He had undergone a cataracts operation and was due to have another operation in January to see if any of his sight could be recovered.
Judge Mark Bury said: "You took in a phone that was having problems and you, in front of a member of staff, used the words 'nude children' in a voice application.
"Hardly surprising that the police were called and you were arrested.
"Each image of child abuse represents an episode of vile abuse on a child.
"If it wasn't for people such as yourself looking for and obtaining such images, the abuse of children would in no way be as common as it is." Cunningham was "brazen enough" to go into the store but later claimed that the images must already have been on the phone because he had a sideline buying and selling phones, said Judge Bury.
Cunningham was jailed for eight months and was ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years. He was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
