Hartlepool loner 'obsessed with dark web' jailed for downloading hundreds of child abuse pictures

Alan Walton, 35, was given a suspended prison sentence in 2017 after he was caught with indecent pictures of children and a paedophile ‘manual’ described as a guide on how to abuse children.

But he continued to search the internet using the dark web, which requires special software to find illegal material, and used variations on an alias called Demon Alan on several websites.

In January police discovered Walton had downloaded 868 indecent still and moving pictures of children on a memory stick after searching the dark web on a mobile phone.

Teesside Crown Court heard they showed children as young two being abused including the rape of a six-year-old.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said: “At the time [of his last conviction] the court was told the defendant was a loner who was obsessed with the dark web and who had obtained his material from it which is essentially what he has admitted to now.

"Police went to his home in Stephen Street, Hartlepool, on the 28th of January this year following information received that indecent illegal material had been accessed at that address.

"His phone was used to surf the dark web for images and some had been downloaded to the USB stick.”

Mr Newcombe added: “He failed to register with the authorities seven aliases that he had been using on various websites.”

Walton admitted three counts of possessing indecent images and failing to comply with notification requirements.

He also pleaded guilty to breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order by trying to buy software to access the dark web on four occasions between October 2018 and August 2019.

Nigel Soppitt, mitigating, said the aliases were rarely used by Walton who contacted a charity to try to tackle his addiction to such images.

Mr Soppitt said: “First and foremost he recognises his problem. The second step is to seek help.”

Walton was jailed for 30 months and will be on the sex offenders register for another 10 years.

The Judge, Recorder Christopher Smith, said it was ‘a troubling case’ and that people who view indecent material fuel child abuse all over the world.

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