Locations
Belle Vue Road, Southbourne, Bournemouth, BH6
Description
A man who had more than 64,000 indecent images of children on his computer admitted his guilt as soon as police entered his Bournemouth home.
The haul of still and moving images David Ballam possessed included scores of the most serious type.
Some of the content involved children no older than 10 years of age.
Officers had been contacted about suspicious online search activity relating to child sex abuse from the IP address associated with his home address.
Following an investigation, police visited the 52-year-olds address in Belle Vue Road, where he lives with his elderly father, in December last year.
Prosecutor James Nash told Bournemouth Crown Court: Police officers went to his home address. Mr Ballams father let them in.
He (the defendant) presented his hands.
"He said: I am guilty. I have been looking at pictures. They are there. They are very young. I have been looking for the last couple of months.
Police seized his computer and found a total of 64,116 still and moving images, with 178 Category A (the most serious), 122 Category B and 63,816 Category C.
At the hearing on December 4, Mr Nash confirmed Ballam had not been involved in the creation of the images but sought them out online and downloaded them over a year-long period, with evidence of systematic storage on the computer.
Mitigating, Tom Evans said the defendant, who had no previous convictions, was remorseful and aware of the contribution his offending had on child sex abuse crimes.
Mr Evans added that Ballam, who is the full time carer for his father, was an extremely isolated individual who suffered from mental health issues for some years.
In sentencing the defendant, who admitted three counts of making indecent images of children at an earlier hearing, Recorder Alexia Power said his mental health had contributed to the offending.
She said a large number of children were seen in the images and only a custodial sentence could be justified although suspended the sentence, noting there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.
Ballam was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to pay 200 costs and a 140 surcharge.
He was issued with a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years, required to follow an eight-week overnight curfew and told to complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
DI Neil Third, of Dorset Polices paedophile online investigation team, said: The possessing and sharing of indecent images online fuels the demand for their production, which results in truly awful acts of sexual abuse being carried out against children that have a devastating and lifelong impact on the young victims.
We are determined to identify those responsible for these offences and bring them before the courts. We work with a range of other agencies to gather information and intelligence and will act on this to ensure offenders face justice and victims are safeguarded.