Indecent photos man avoids jail

7:12pm Thursday 19th June 2008

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A 44-year-old man who downloaded indecent images of children on his computer left court with a suspended jail sentence today.

Andrew Rawlings, of Fane Drive, Berinsfield, was convicted of six charges of making indecent images of children after a trial at Oxford Crown Court last month.

He was cleared of 13 more offences by a jury and a further four after the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence.

Ishan Kolhatkar, defending, said: "There is an absence of one aggravating feature, that of systematic saving. The experts said the images were on the computer, but not necessarily saved for later retrieval."

Recorder Harold Persaud gave Rawlings a six-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and a 24-month supervision order.

Ordering Rawlings to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for seven years, he said: "An inference that can be drawn from the jury's verdict is they have accepted these images may have arrived on your computer as a result of a virus."