Indecent Images Case - Client Avoids Prison

Case study summary

Our client was charged with possession of indecent images of children. We represented him at the police station and in court. Following a guilty plea and strong mitigation put forward by us, he was able to avoid a prison sentence despite having a relevant previous conviction.

Case study

Our client was charged with possession of indecent images of children. We were instructed to represent him at the police station and we continued to represent him all the way through the court process. At the police station, we advised our client to put forward a prepared statement to get his account on record from this early stage. This benefitted him as the case proceeded to court.

The nature of the prosecution's case against our client was that indecent images of children, namely 3 Category A images and 46 Category C images, were found on his devices. Our client had a previous conviction for possession of indecent images of children and so, there was a real risk of an immediate prison sentence being imposed.

It was our client's case that he did not know that the Category A images were on his device and that he believed that they had downloaded onto his device automatically upon opening a link in a group chat. Given these instructions, we prepared representations which successfully persuaded the prosecution to drop the charge of possession of Category A images. As a result, the client pleaded guilty to the remaining charge of possession of Category C images.

To prepare for sentencing, we worked with our client to create a strong mitigation package that could be presented to the court by one of our expert advocates. It was important that we were able to demonstrate to the court that our client had worked to address his behaviour during the time between his previous offence and this offence. We gathered character statements, obtained an export report which identified undiagnosed mental health conditions, and sought to highlight that our client was addressing his behaviour with private counselling and other support groups.

Because of our thorough preparation and the strong mitigation put forward by our client's advocate at court, with the support of the mitigation package, he was able to avoid a prison sentence and received a suspended sentence instead. Our client was extremely relieved as this outcome will allow him to continue to work on his rehabilitation within the community, and still be there for his family who rely on him heavily.