91Èȱ¬

A convicted paedophile who was caught with a cartoon of a naked girl on his phone has been given a suspended prison sentence.

IT worker Stephen Massey, 41, had denied downloading the picture, but jurors found him guilty of possessing a prohibited image of a child, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Massey admitted breaching a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and notification requirements, after he failed to inform police that he had acquired a new phone, tablet and bank card - and he was subsequently jailed for 10 months, suspended for two years.

Massey, from Gateshead, was jailed for one year in 2018, after being found with a "very significant number" of indecent images of children.

In accordance with the sexual harm prevention order, police had visited Massey's home to inspect his devices in December 2022. They searched his phone and found a cartoon depicting a female in an explicit sexual position which had been downloaded five days earlier, the court heard.

Massey told officers he did not know how the image had come to be on his phone, before later saying he had thought the image was of a woman not a young girl, prosecutors said.

Officers visited his home several months later and found a mobile phone, tablet and bank card that Massey had not registered with police, putting him in breach of the earlier court orders.

Massey, of Marian Drive, in Bill Quay, told officers he had not realised he was obliged to register the devices and card, and apologised to the police.

Judge Nathan Adams said the jury took less than half an hour to unanimously find Massey guilty of possessing an image of a girl assessed to be aged between nine and 11.

The judge said Massey's claim that he didn't know how the image had come to be found on his phone was "frankly incredible".

He added that if the cartoon had been a photograph, the image would have fallen into the most serious category of indecent images of children, but as it was an illustration, it was deemed to be in the second tier.

The judge also said he found it "hard to believe" Massey did not know he was meant to register his phone and tablet with police, leading him to conclude it was a "deliberate breach" on Massey's part.

Judge Adams said Massey was "clearly intelligent", having gained a degree in computing from the University of Sunderland and worked in IT at Newcastle College for 10 years before his earlier conviction.

He said Massey "did not learn" from his previous jail term, which the IT worker received after being found with "a very significant number of images" of children.

But the judge maintained there was realistic prospect of rehabilitation, and ordered Massey to attend an "intensive" accredited sex offender programme with the probation service.

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