Convicted paedophile jailed after 900 indecent images found

David Henderson, 30, of Exmouth Place, Bolton, Bradford, was caught with 931 images on a mobile phone he had been hiding from the police.

Just over 400 of the images, both still and moving, were at Category A, the highest level of seriousness.

Henderson has earlier pleaded guilty to six offences of the possession of indecent images of a child, as well as breaching a Sexual Offences Protection Order which was imposed in 2015 for similar offences.

Prosecutor Heather Gilmore outlined how police had initially received intelligence connecting Henderson's IP address with a Twitter account which had shared a Category B indecent image.

Further intelligence linked him to a Snapchat account where more indecent images were shared.

But a search of his home in September 2020, found nothing. A second search almost a year later resulted in a handful of images being found on a device, but it wasn’t until a further search in May 2022, that a hidden mobile phone was discovered.

A forensic examination uncovered 403 Category A images, 424 Category B images, and 104 Category C images.

Bradford Crown Court

Ms Gilmore said there was a high number of images and that they were of girls between the ages of four to 13. There were also searches on the phone consistent with looking for images related to familial sex abuse.

Henderson’s barrister, Camille Morland, said that Henderson was an intelligent and able man, but that things deteriorated for him during lockdown once he was furloughed. He relapsed and committed these offences, she added.

Judge Colin Burn said that the used of a hidden phone was in “full disregard” of the order made in 2015 and that this as “both deliberate and devious”.

His actions have “undoubtedly led to harm” he added, sentencing him to 26 months imprisonment.

He must also comply with notification requirements for the next ten years. A new Sexual Harm Prevention Order was also made.

The court had also heard that Henderson was convicted in October 2015 of four counts of distributing indecent images and six of making indecent images – more than 12,000 images in total.

He was also convicted of possessing 2,500 prohibited images and possessing six extreme pornographic images.

He was sentenced to a three-year community order, an indefinite sexual offences prevention order and ordered to register as a sex offender for five years.