Locations
Church Road, Northwich, Cheshire West And Chester, CW9
Description
A serial sex offender has been jailed after being caught with child sex abuse images for a third time.
Benjamin Heron, 33, of Church Road, Northwich, was found with up to 200,000 indecent images during an inspection on March 25.
Chester Crown Court heard that Heron, already subject to a sexual harm prevention order from two prior convictions, lied to officers, claiming his only devices were a Nintendo Switch and two TVs. In reality, he had memory sticks, mobile phones, and a PC.
Analysis revealed he had downloaded and distributed indecent images online multiple times between December last year and January this year.
In a sample of about 600 images, around 300 were Category A—the most serious, involving child rape. He had tens of thousands in total, but police examined only enough to secure evidence.
Heron admitted three counts of downloading indecent images, six of distributing, one of possessing indecent images, and one of possessing prohibited images (non-photographic, such as anime or cartoons, per the Crown Prosecution Service).
He also admitted breaching the sexual harm prevention order at an earlier plea hearing.
On November 21, Judge Patrick Thompson sentenced him to four years and six months in prison. Heron must comply with a lifetime sexual harm prevention order and sex offenders register, and surrender his memory sticks, mobile phones, and PC.