Former Northampton primary school teacher downloaded hundreds of indecent videos and pictures of children for sexual pleasure

Paedophile was spared jail for stash of 'abhorrent' files, including a 'revolting' image involving a baby
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A former teacher at a Northampton primary school was spared jail for downloading hundreds of indecent videos and pictures of children which he used for sexual pleasure.

One 'revolting' image in Anthony Moore's possession involved a baby while others showed young boys being forced to perform sexual acts on other boys, Northampton Crown Court heard yesterday (Thursday, April 22).

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Police also found online searches for 11-year-old boys on the 47-year-old's laptop and file-cleaning software which was used a few months before his arrest at the school in 2017.

Paedophile Anthony Moore was spared jail at Northampton Crown CourtPaedophile Anthony Moore was spared jail at Northampton Crown Court
Paedophile Anthony Moore was spared jail at Northampton Crown Court

None of his offences were connected in any way to the school where he worked.

Moore, of Wycliffe Road, Northampton, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of possessing indecent images of a child and three counts of making such pictures.

Her Honour Judge Adrienne Lucking sentenced him to four concurrent prison sentences between three and 12 months. All four were suspended for two years.

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"These images were created upon real children and real children have suffered as a result of these images," she told him.

"And if these were not viewed by individuals then there would be no need to create them as they would have no value so you are responsible on your part that harm was done to these children.

"But there was no direct offending done to a child personally and no suggestion you acted inappropriately while working as a teacher - if there was you would have gone immediately to prison."

Moore was working particularly with vulnerable children when he was arrested in October 2017 after police were alerted to his computer's IP address in relation to indecent images of children, the court heard.

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Mark Watson, prosecuting, said the defendant admitted possessing the images when interviewed but said he was mainly interested in older children.

He also told police a man called Paul brought two USB drives to his house which contained indecent images and videos of children and they looked at them together for sexual pleasure.

Mr Watson continued: "He felt disgusted afterwards and offered to supply police with the USB sticks which he did as they did not find them during their search of his home."

Indecent images of children fall into three categories: A, the most serious kind involving penetrative sexual activity, B, involving non-penetrative sexual activity, and C, which is anything that does not fall into the other two categories.

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On the USB drives, police found 297 'category A' pictures, 174 category A videos, 354 category B pictures, 96 category B videos, 923 category C pictures and 174 category C videos.

Officers also found 32 category A videos, 12 category B videos and two category C pictures on Moore's laptop - a total of 320 videos and 1,576 pictures.

The defendant's computer also contained online searches for 'boys swimwear', 'boys swimming' and '14-year-old male models', Mr Watson said.

Moore's defence lawyer described his behaviour as 'abhorrent' but insisted he had never done anything to a child personally while working as a teacher nor since.

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He added the defendant has shown genuine remorse and taken steps to address his offending such as removing himself from most social media.

Moore had also suffered trauma as a youth and his partner had died which Judge Lucking accepted had had an impact on his behaviour.

His elderly grandmother is also dependant upon him so sending him to jail would affect her care, he added.

Judge Lucking told him: "It's a finely balanced decision I have come to - understand that you have come very close to going to prison."

As well as the suspended sentence, Moore will have a sexual harm prevention order and be on the sex offender register for 10 years and undertake a rehabilitation course with the Probation Service.