Locations
Elton Street West, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, NE28
Description
A convicted child rapist caught with a hoard of indecent images said he had them as a "coping mechanism" to stop him abusing more youngsters.
Jordan Chambers was a youth himself when he was jailed for 57 months for raping a younger boy and molesting a girl.
A court heard he received no help or courses while in a young offenders institution to deal with his sexual interest in children, which remained after he was released on licence.
He was caught with hundreds of indecent images of children, some aged under 10, when police examined his phone.
Newcastle Crown Court heard he said looking at the illegal material helped prevent him from carrying out further contact offences.
It was in November that Northumbria Police's paedophile online investigation team went to his house after receiving information about his behaviour.
He initially denied having a phone but when officers found an iPhone charger plugged into the wall, he told them the device was under his bed.
An examination uncovered 157 of the most serious, category A images, 176 category B and 699 category C. There were also two videos, one of category A and one category B.
The court heard he had posted one of the images on Facebook, although he was not charged with distributing images, just three counts of making them between July and November, which he admitted.
He said he had stored the indecent material on a cloud storage app.
Nick Lane, prosecuting, said: "By way of explanation, he said he had a sexual interest in children and he used the images he downloaded via the Tor browser as a coping mechanism to make sure he didn't commit any further contact offences.
"He said following his previous conviction and since his release from custody he had received little or no help with regard to his sexual preference for children and had been unable to prevent himself looking at the images."
Chambers, of Elton Street West, Wallsend, had been jailed at Preston Crown Court in 2016 for raping a boy under the age of 13 and sexually assaulting a girl aged between 13 and 15.
He was 15 or 16 at the time he carried out those attacks, for which he was sent to a young offenders institution for 57 months, placed on the sex offenders register and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.
He has been recalled on licence for that sentence, with his release date being October 31 this year.
For the latest, indecent images offences, he was jailed for 12 months, of which he will serve up to half.
Shaun Routledge, defending, said: "While he was serving his last sentence he asked on numerous occasions to go on the Horizon (sex offences) course. He has never been given a single sexual prevention course, despite getting 57 months.
"He said he didn't get on the course and other people did. The course was not available.
"It's the first thing he said to the police when he was arrested. He needs help.
"He is young and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity."