Paul Yate

A 75-year-old man was jailed for six months after police discovered a collection of nearly 5,000 indecent images of children at his home in Clenchwarton, near King’s Lynn, Norfolk. Paul Yate, of Main Road, Clenchwarton, was arrested in September 2023 following an alert that indecent images were being uploaded from his address.

At Norwich Crown Court on 4 June 2025, Yate admitted three counts of making indecent images of children. The court heard that he was found with 2,333 category A images – the most serious – alongside 1,543 category B and 880 category C images. Prosecutor Danielle O’Donovan described the content as “extremely young in some cases”.

Judge Anthony Bate imposed a six-month custodial sentence, stating that “a significant quantity of Category A images” had been recovered. He added that the defendant was “not a good prospect” for a community intervention. Yate’s barrister, Stephen Mather, highlighted his client’s poor health, including heart problems, asthma and a recent stroke, and said Yate was “on his own”.

In addition to the prison term, Yate was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years and placed on the sex offenders’ register for the same period. Detective Constable Paul Atkinson of Norfolk Constabulary’s Safeguarding Children Online Team said after sentencing: “The extent of Yate’s offending was appalling. I hope this sends a clear message that we will seek to prosecute any individual who exploits children online, or those who engage with others who share child sexual abuse material.”