Description
A PAEDOPHILE distributed explicit images of children being sexually abused to other online users, and engaged in illegal chat with what he thought was a teenage girl.
Simon Tiller, 57, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court yesterday (Monday) for what a judge described as a pattern of continued sexual offending which was wired into his DNA.
It was following chat between Tiller and an undercover police officer that he was unmasked as the person using a number of different online aliases. Discussions, through a messaging application, related to the sexual abuse of minors.
Michael Scholes, prosecuting, said of the communication method: This is a platform often favoured by those with an interest in the sexual abuse of children owing to the high level of anonymity it offers.
Tiller was arrested in May 2022, at a motorhome in which he was living within the grounds of a private north Cumbria property.
Several phones were recovered including a Samsung Galaxy in Tillers shorts that he had tried to hide. This was found to contain many hundreds of accessible indecent images of children including 317 stills and videos classed in category A, the most serious.
Over several months, Tiller was found to have discussed with others the sexual abuse of children and distributed indecent images.
The court heard Tiller had also covertly taken indecent photos of a child which he said he was prepared to pass on.
Tiller admitted nine charges involving the possession and distribution of indecent images of children, possession of extreme pornographic images and attempted sexual communication with a 14-year-old girl who was actually a police officer. He was convicted by a jury of one voyeurism offence.
Kim Whittlestone, mitigating, said Tiller had expressed remorse, despite conclusions to the contrary which had been drawn by a probation officer.
He will use his time in custody as well as he can, said Miss Whittlestone.
He is realistic that the court will keep him within a custodial environment for some time hence.
Tiller was jailed for a total of 39 months by Judge Michael Fanning, who concluded that he had sought to minimise his offending and shown a degree of self-pity.
You are a paedophile, said the judge. The (pre-sentence) report shows you are a risk to children. This offending was into your DNA, and until you accept and address that you remain a risk to children.
Tiller, latterly of Blackford, near Carlisle, must sign the sex offender register, and comply with the strict terms of a prevention order, for 10 years.