National Crime Agency catches dad watching online child abuse

Officers from the National Crime Agency discovered the activity of Thomas Hillman, which included him watching vile videos of toddlers being raped.

The 29-year-old admitted after being caught that he received sexual gratification from viewing the depraved material, with a court hearing that he became addicted.

He was arrested and charged with three counts of making indecent images of children (IIOC), and he appeared to be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday.

He also faced sole counts of possessing IIOC, possessing a prohibited image of a child, possessing extreme pornographic images involving animals and possessing cocaine.

Peter Hussey, prosecuting, explained how matters arose as a result of a referral to police by officers monitoring for online child abuse for the National Crime Agency.

They were alerted to the detection of illegal activity involving an IP address belonging to the defendant.

Police obtained a search warrant, which was executed early in the morning in November last year at Hillman’s then-Warrington home.

He had left for work only minutes before the raid took place, and during a search of the property, police recovered a laptop computer, hard drive and small quantity of cocaine.

Officers went to find Hillman at his place of work and arrested him there, where they also found his mobile phone, hidden behind a bin in an attempt to prevent police from finding it.

A forensic examination revealed that the majority of the illegal material was found on the phone, despite denials that there would be in his first police interview.

Across all devices, there were a total of 2,862 IIOC in either photo or video form, as well as indicative search engine terms.

Of these images, 16 were graded as Category A – the most severe category involving child rape – while 2,019 were rated as category B and 827 were categorised as category C.

These had an age range of between toddlers aged from two up to teenagers aged 14. Among the category A material was children as young as two being raped by adult men.

Thomas Hillman was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court

In addition, officers found one computer generated prohibited image of a child being raped and 152 extreme pornographic images of humans and animals engaging in sex acts.

In defence of his client, Simeon Evans referenced his guilty pleas at the first opportunity, his lack of previous convictions and ‘glowing’ character references and letters.

“While the case crosses the custody threshold, an appropriate sentence is one that can be suspended,” he said.

“This is substantially based on the efforts the defendant is making to rehabilitate himself, and in his case there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”

The barrister added that Hillman has been in contact with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation – a charity dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse – to avoid offending in the future.

Before sentencing, recorder Tim Harrington said: “Over a number of years, your personal life started to spiral out of control.

“You were drinking too much and became addicted to looking at disgraceful and disgusting child sex abuse and sexual activity with animals, or extreme pornography.”

However, he added: “You have been remarkably open with the probation service about the fact that you were gaining sexual gratification from the material. That is a rare admission.

“The case does pass the custody threshold due to the number of images and the very young age of children being raped.

“You could not complain if I sent you to prison, but I am going to step away from that due to your guilty pleas at the first opportunity, the candid way you have dealt with this, and more importantly, the steps you have made to sort your life out.”

Giving Hillman, now of Rothay Street in Leigh, his ‘one chance’, recorder Harrington sentenced him to a two-year community order, including 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 200 hours of unpaid work.

He also granted a sexual harm prevention order designed to restrict his internet use for five years and sex offender notification requirements for the same period.

In addition, a deprivation order for the devices seized and destruction order for the cocaine were both approved.