Description
Mark Robinson had downloaded over 600 illegal images of children and had only been released from prison for similar crimes last year
A paedophile who downloaded 680 indecent images and videos of children, and shared some of them with others, has been jailed.
Mark Robinson, 40, was caught with 119 category A images - the most serious type; 105 category B and 456 category C illegal images of children. He shared 16 of them with other adults via the messenger service Kik and through Snapchat.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Annelise Haugstad told Teesside Crown Court that Robinson had been released from prison for similar crimes last year, and under the terms of his sexual harm prevention order, he had a police protection officer checking his online devices.
The court heard that in July 2020, the officer went to Robinson's workplace and seized his iPhone 7. The illegal images and videos were found on his phone, and showed children who had been drugged and some of whom "were in obvious distress".
Police IT specialists also found that he had created aliases to use on social media accounts without notifying the police. Robinson had created profiles under the names "Callum 818" and "Callum Read". He had also installed software on his phone which encrypted the data stored.
Robinson, of HMP Northumberland, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children; the distribution of indecent images of children; three counts of failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements and one breach of a sexual harm prevention order.
The court heard that he has four convictions for 35 previous offences - all of them involved child sex crimes. In August 2020, Robinson was jailed for 40 months for making illegal images of children.
Kelleigh Lodge, defending, told the court that her client had started an online sex offender treatment programme, but he was unable to continue this once he was jailed in 2020. Ms Lodge said that prison was "not a very pleasant experience" for Robinson, who "has certainly learnt his lesson and has tried to seek help for his offending".
But Judge Jonathan Carroll told Robinson that his iPhone showed "a significant breach of the measures that control the risk you pose to the public and to children, in particular. You accessed the Kik messenger service and were in regular communication with other people with the same sexual obsessions towards children."
The judge said that a pre-sentence report on Robinson had found that he is a "high risk" to children. Robinson was jailed for four-years and six-months.