Former school teaching assistant caught with the most serious child abuse images
Former school teaching assistant caught with the most serious child abuse images
The judge said the defendant posed a high risk to male children
Daniel Beatty, who had been subject to a sexual harm prevention order when he breached his terms
(Image: western mail )
A Welsh former teaching assistant caught with child abuse images has been jailed. On Wednesday Cardiff Crown Court heard Daniel Beatty, of Capel Crescent in Newport, had been caught with images of boys being sexually abused.
Beatty, 33, had been subject to a sexual harm prevention order dating back to 2015 when he was jailed for three years for sexually touching an 11-year-old boy and showing him pornography, the court heard.
Kathryn Lane, prosecuting, said Beatty was referred to Gwent Police by children's charity the NSPCC in March last year after the charity was informed the defendant had been contacting a 15-year-old boy while gaming online.
Following a police investigation the defendant was arrested in January of this year and his devices were seized. Ms Lane said while the conversation was not sexual it was a clear breach of the terms of the order he should have been abiding by.
On Beatty's devices a small number of child sex abuse images were also discovered and they were in the worst category for harm - category A. The defendant answered no comment to all questions at police interview but pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Solomon Hartley, defending, stressed his client was owed credit for his early guilty plea and said a very small number of images were found on his devices.
Mr Hartley submitted there was a clear prospect of rehabilitation and said Beatty was not aware the teenager he was talking to online about gaming was 15.
Judge Simon Mills agreed the number of images was small in volume, but said the offending - given it happened with the backdrop of a previous jail term for offences against children - justifies an immediate jail term.
He told Beatty in the dock: 'This is not the case of a first time offender coming before court with a relatively small number of images. It is a small number of images but they're category A images and you did it against a backdrop which you knew perfectly well.
'You knew the consequences but decided to do it anyway. You pose a high risk to young male children. A high risk in fact given the sting of being subject to these provisions has lessened as time has passed.
'This case not only crosses the custody threshold but is also a case in which adequate punishment can only be achieved by a sentence of immediate custody. Indecent pictures of children are real children being abused by real adults.'
Judge Mills sentenced Beatty to 12 months custody, half of which he'll serve behind bars and the remainder on licence. He also continues to be subject of a sexual harm prevention order for life.
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