Locations
Blurton, Stoke-on-Trent, ST3
Description
A pensioner who volunteered at an attraction popular with families has been caught with hundreds of child abuse images. David Donkin, who had helped out at Foxfield Railway, near Blythe Bridge, since 1966, viewed sickening photos of children as young as three being exploited over a six-year period.
But it came to an end when police visited his home in December 2022 and seized his electronic devices. They were found to contain a total of 2,430 indecent images of youngsters at categories A to C and 295 prohibited images of children.
Now 79-year-old Donkin, who has undertaken a lot of work through the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a child protection charity dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse, has been sentenced to a two-year community order at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court. As part of the order he must complete a rehabilitation activity requirement for 20 days and 80 hours unpaid work.
Prosecutor Salek Ahmed said police from Operation Safenet attended at Donkin's Blurton home on December 14, 2022, after receiving intelligence that the occupant had uploaded a category C image of a child.
Mr Ahmed said items including a computer tower and a mobile phone were seized and analysed. They were found to contain:
- 239 still indecent images of children and 39 moving images at category A, the most serious;
- 234 still images and 43 movies at category B;
- 1,858 still images and 17 movies at category C;
- 265 prohibited still images of a child and 30 prohibited moving images of a child.
Mr Ahmed said Donkin made full and frank admissions in his police interview. He added that some of the children in the images were as young as three or four and the offending spanned six years, from 2016 to 2022.
Donkin, of Waterside Drive, Blurton, pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent photographs of a child and one charge of possessing a prohibited image of a child.
Stuart Muldoon, mitigating, said when the police seized Donkin's devices officers provided him with the details of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation. Mr Muldoon said: "He started engaging and did not replace the items seized by the police. For almost a year he was involved with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.
"At the moment he has no devices that can access the internet. The offending has a lot of stigma."
He said Donkin, who worked at Creda, has been involved with the steam railway since 1966. But he has been suspended as a result of the police investigation. Mr Muldoon said: "There is no suggestion there has been any contact with children. He is hopeful he will be able to go back there.
"He is very proud of his achievements in his paid working life and his voluntary working life. He is ashamed, guilt ridden and upset that he is before the courts.
"He accepts he became desensitised to what he was looking at and became addicted to pornography."
Recorder Julian Taylor said: "You are 79 and of previous good character. These are real children. These disgraceful, horrible images are exploitation of children. Some were as young as three or four."
Donkin was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years and was placed on the sex offenders' register for the same period.