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Judge Sean Morris jailed Ryan Purvis, 29, for six months today (Oct 1) but said the Hawsker man would have served double that amount of time had the case not taken an “unacceptable” three-and-a-half years to reach court.
Mr Morris, the Recorder of York, said he apportioned no blame whatsoever to police for the inordinate delay but demanded that cases of this type - which included images of children being raped - reached court much sooner so that proper justice could be served.
“There will come a time when, unless the police are given proper resources to bring these cases to court in a reasonable time, then the court will find it impossible to impose an immediate prison sentence,” warned the judge.
He spoke out after jailing Purvis for making and distributing indecent images of children.
Some of the images were rated Category A - the worst kind of such material involving the sexual abuse of children.
Purvis, who worked as a cabler for an energy company, was arrested in April 2021 when police swooped on his home after receiving intelligence that he was uploading indecent images on the internet.
Prosecutor Christopher Bevan said officers seized two mobile phones on which they found 102 indecent photos and videos of children, some as young as five years of age.
Of these, 58 were Category A videos and five were Category A photos.
Forensic officers also found 16 “extreme pornography” images.
He was charged with three counts of making indecent images, two counts of distributing illicit material, one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child and possession of “extreme pornography”.
He admitted all the offences and appeared for sentence today.
Defence barrister Rhianydd Clement said that Purvis had now “lost his good character” due to the offences which had led to the breakdown of a long-term relationship.
Judge Mr Morris condemned Purvis for “the distribution of foul videos of children”.
He added: “I’m afraid for distribution, an immediate prison sentence has to follow, but this (case) is three-and-a-half years old, which is unacceptable, so I’m going to reduce the sentence.”
Purvis received a six-month jail sentence, roughly half of what he would have received if the case had reached court in a timely fashion, and which was reduced further for the current overcrowding in British prisons.
He will only serve half of that time behind bars before being released on prison licence.
After jailing Purvis, Mr Morris warned that the strain on police resources meant that it was becoming more difficult to ensure that such cases, which required forensic analysis of devices, reached court in good time.
He added: “Because of the delay in this case, (the defendant’s) sentence has been cut in half.
"To take three-and-a-half years to get a case before the courts – a case that is a guilty plea – means that it is unjust.
“It is not the fault of the police…but something is going to have to be done to get these cases analysed quicker, otherwise for distributing indecent images like this case, the sentences are literally going to be slashed.
“Three-and-a-half years from arrest to court is not acceptable.”