Harry Woods

A 20-year-old man from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, was imprisoned after admitting to accessing additional indecent images of children while serving a suspended sentence for a prior similar offence.

Harry Woods, of Finer Close, Clacton, had been given a two-year suspended sentence in January at Chelmsford Crown Court for distributing indecent images. The judge at the time determined that Woods, who was a youth during the original offending, had a realistic prospect of rehabilitation and ordered him to complete 250 hours of unpaid work and 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days. Woods, a former shop worker at B&M in Clacton, had enjoyed his job helping customers but resigned after rumours of his offences surfaced.

Less than halfway through his suspended sentence, Woods was arrested last month following an alert from monitoring software on his phone, which detected him saving indecent images of children. Prosecuting, Mark Halsey told the court that Woods had been scrolling through the pictures online and could not stop himself. Woods later pleaded guilty to one count of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and one count of making an indecent image of a child.

In mitigation, Oliver Kelham highlighted that Woods had completed all 250 hours of unpaid work and 10 out of the 30 rehabilitation days. Kelham described Woods as having had a sheltered upbringing with no health or other childhood issues, and suggested his actions were a 'cry for help' despite knowing his devices were monitored and that police would intervene.

However, Judge Jamie Sawyer was unmoved, stating that the completed requirements had 'not actually had any practical effect'. He noted that Woods had returned to viewing the images within a short period, effectively paying only 'lip service' to the order on a superficial level, as pointed out by the Probation Service. The judge emphasised the ongoing harm to the children depicted, saying: 'You must recognise that when you shut your laptop or device down, those images cease to exist for you – but the children in those images don’t get any closure. In acting as you have done, you are encouraging the trade in that material.' For these reasons, Judge Sawyer sentenced Woods to immediate imprisonment for one year and eight months.

The case was heard at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday, with Essex Police providing the image of Woods and alerting authorities via monitoring software.