Paedophile postman found viewing child porn
A paedophile postman who was found looking at indecent images of children on his computer when police raided his home has been handed a three-year community order.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that John Smallman, aged 54, downloaded thousands of indecent images of children after responding to a website advert offering DVDs featuring child abuse in June 2011.
When police raided his home in Eveson Road in Norton, Stourbridge, on August 3 last year they found him looking at child porn images on a computer in his study.
Ms Rhiannon Jones, prosecuting said: "When Mr Smallman answered the door officers could see through into his study room where indecent images of children were visible on his computer screen."
The court heard police seized his computer, two laptops and a number of DVDs, which they found to contain almost 5,000 indecent images and films of children, of which 59 were the most extreme category. His internet search history revealed he had been seeking indecent images.
When questioned by officers Smallman told them he had used a camcorder to record images of abuse from his computer and copy onto DVDs.
Mr Andrew Baker, defending, said Smallman led an unhappy home life and had attempted to kill himself in the months after his arrest.
"He was brutally frank in his admission of guilt to the police and admitted he had received gratification from the material."
Smallman pleaded guilty to 25 counts of possessing indecent images of children.
Judge John Warner told him that he needed to work with the probation sevice: "You knew clearly what you were doing was wrong and you deliberately sought to access certain websites. You are addicted to child sex, but I think you are someone with whom the Probation Service can work with."
Smallman was also instructed to attend a treatment programme for sex offenders.
