Hartlepool man who had more than 150,000 indecent pictures of children told to expect prison

A Hartlepool man has been warned to expect a prison sentence after amassing a collection of over 150,000 indecent images of children.

Published 18th Sep 2020, 07:00 BST

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Lee Dennison had 1,969 images of the worst kinds of abuse, a total of 2,163 in the next category of seriousness and 153,940 in the lowest categorisation.

He amassed the vast sick collection between September 2005 and March 2019.

The 45-year-old was also in possession of 450 prohibited images of children from March 28 last year and had 102 extreme pornographic images of an animal on the same date.

Lee Dennison amassed a vast collection of indecent and extreme images.

Lee Dennison amassed a vast collection of indecent and extreme images.

He pleaded guilty to all five charges in front of magistrates in August and was due to be sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday, September 17.

But the case was put back for four weeks because there was no pre-sentence report.

Judge Stephen Ashurst said: “There are a vast number of images in this case. Certainly the court will be very concerned about the risk factors in this particular case.”

The court heard Dennison, of Dobson Place, Hartlepool, had no previous convictions.

But in a stern warning, the judge warned him that only a custodial sentence is likely to be passed.

Judge Ashurst said: “You must be under no misapprehension that the court will regard your behaviour seriously and the court will consider what’s said in the pre-sentence report.

"But you must understand no promises are being made that anything other than a custodial sentence will follow in this case.

"You must return here to take that sentence on the 16th of October.”

Dennison was granted bail.

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