Kale Hughes 31

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A man confessed to his illegal activities when his "depraved" collection of child pornography was discovered last summer. Kale Jordan Hughes, originally of Maes Gwyn in Flint, appeared before a judge at Mold Crown Court to be sentenced today.

He admitted downloading just over 670 indecent photos of children as well as distributing four indecent videos at a previous court hearing. He was also found to be in possession of an extreme pornographic video portraying a sexual act involving a dog.

Prosecuting, Thomas Mcloughlin told the court how the National Crime Agency passed along information from Instagram officials to the specialist team at North Wales Police on June 18 last year that a user on the social network had shared out an indecent video of a child. That person was tracked down by their IP address and found to be Hughes.

The 29-year-old handed over a mobile phone - as well as SIM cards and memory cards - after he was arrested at his Flintshire home following a raid, the court heard. When officers asked during an interview with the defendant what their investigation of his phone would reveal, Hughes told them that there would be "everything" on the device, including the saved media alongside web searches.

An array of sexually explicit content featuring mostly girls had been downloaded and stored in "easily accessible places" on the devices, said Mr Mcloughlin. The prosecutor added that the analysts estimated the children featured in the library of indecent images range in age from aged 15 to being "as young as four".

The court heard how Hughes made a confession that, before he was arrested, he had been watching this type of material for "at least five years". He told the police he would seek the content out online, accepting that it was "wrong" and knew it was illegal.

The court heard that Hughes had downloaded the Telegram app just weeks before his arrest in July 2021. It was said that he looked around for groups that specifically shared this kind of content on the app, adding that some had "roughly 10-15" participants.

Defending, Alun Williams, was keen to stress to the court that his client was a "man of good character" before his stash was discovered. Since his arrest, he cooperated with the police "even before they could prove" what he had done and has since "made enquires" about what help is available for people who have this kind of sexual interest.

Judge Rhys Rowlands told Hughes that prison was his only suitable punishment option. Overall, he was sentenced to one year and six months, banned from ever working with children and told to sign up as a sex offender for the next decade.

He said: "These are serious and disturbing offences that are very far from being victimless. Each image is of a child, somewhere in the world, that is being subjected to exploitation to satisfy the depraved interests of people like you."

"You have shown some remorse and insight into your behaviour," the judge accepted. However, he continued by saying that: "the scale of your offending, coupled with the willingness you showed to share such vile images yourself, means that custody cannot be suspended."