Description
An A&E nurse caught with baby rape videos was spared jail after a judge heard of his "positive good character".
John Wadeson worked at Aintree hospital's emergency department in Fazakerley until he was exposed as a paedophile.
The 30-year-old had previously helped victims of the Manchester Arena bombing while on placement at Bolton hospital.
But the whole time he was downloading a sick collection of indecent images of little children and disturbing extreme porn.
Liverpool Crown Court heard police raided Wadeson's home in Borron Close, Newton-le-Willows, at around 8.30am, on June 10, 2020.
Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, said: "Mr Wadeson was present at the address with his partner. Police officers cautioned and arrested both males."
Officers seized a Lenovo computer, an iPad and a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone, containing 142 child sex abuse images.
They included 56 Category A indecent images - the most serious category showing child rape - of which 11 were videos.
Mr Blasbery said the Category A files showed children as young as babies aged between newborn and 12 months.
There were 35 Category B images - including eight videos - involving boys just four to six-years-old.
A further 51 Category C photos included pictures of boys aged as young as three to four.
Police also found 35 extreme porn images, including two videos, and 11 prohibited - cartoon - images of children.
Wadeson was interviewed that day, when he denied any wrongdoing, saying he had "no idea" how any indecent images were linked to him.
He was interviewed again on May 29 this year, when he confirmed he had a Kik Messenger account "but got rid of it when he met his partner".
Wadeson said the computer belonged to both of them, but confirmed the iPad and Samsung devices were his.
The nurse confessed he knew there were indecent images on the phone, but said "he couldn't remember viewing them".
However, Wadeson accepted he must have downloaded them and also admitted watching extreme porn videos, which he said others likely sent him on the messaging app Telegram.
Mr Blasbery told the court: "He said there was a period of time when indecent images of children were on his mind, he did accept responsibility for everything and his partner had no idea what was going on and was not aware of what he was watching - he was solely responsible."
Wadeson admitted three counts of downloading and one of possessing indecent images of children, plus possessing prohibited images of children and extreme porn, all between September 2016 and June 2020.
Ben Berkson, defending, urged the judge to spare his client jail, who he said had no previous convictions and "many aspects of positive good character".
He said Wadeson was supported by his husband, who provided a character reference, and others sitting in the public gallery.
Mr Berkson said: "This course of conduct is described as shocking and out of character by those closest to him and by the defendant himself."
He said Wadeson struggled from an early age with his mental health and self-harming, and had a past diagnosis of psychosis.
The lawyer added: "A particularly dark point as a child was the death of his foster brother, which has had a profound impact on this defendant."
He said: "As a gay man he experienced bullying at school generally and had difficulty with his sexuality growing up, due to fear of homophobic abuse.
"Notwithstanding those difficulties, he qualified as a nurse in 2017 and began working in the A&E department at Aintree hospital.
"But immediately prior to that he was part of a nursing training placement at Bolton hospital. As part of that he actually helped the victims of the Manchester bombing."
Judge Andrew Menary, QC, told Wadeson his collection was "not as big as many that this court encounters" but the Category A files were "of the worst kind, plainly".
He said: "You realise now, if you didn't realise before, that this sort of activity has very real victims."
The judge added: "It feeds and encourages this sort of trade in appalling misery for the children involved.
"The impact on them, here and abroad, cannot be overstated, and though your activity is very remote from that, nonetheless, as I say, it plays a part in the continuation of this particular trade."
He said sentencing guidelines indicated a starting point of 12 months in jail, but told Wadeson: "I'm not going to send you to prison today".
Judge Menary said the reason for that wasn't because the offences weren't serious, but because he had to follow a guideline on the imposition of community and custodial sentences.
He told Wadeson this meant he had to consider whether there were "reasons to believe that you would be punished sufficiently and assisted in terms of preventing further risk to the public by some other means of dealing with you".
The judge said: "I could send you immediately to prison today. I have no doubt that is the sort of sentence many members of the public would demand.
"But that could not be for a significant period and inevitably you would be released back into the community, with no or little support.
"So I hope enlightened members of the public will understand why I am taking the course I am."
The judge said Wadeson had "already suffered a significant amount" by losing his career in nursing.
He said: "You have gained employment within a family business, but that loss is by itself a very significant punishment for you.
"I am impressed by the commitment shown by your husband in supporting you and I bear in mind all that's said in the reference he has written."
Giving Wadeson one third credit for his guilty pleas, Judge Menary handed him eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months.
He must complete a 60-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, including a Horizon sex offenders treatment programme, and pay £500 court costs.
Wadeson must also comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years and sign on the Sex Offenders Register for a decade.