Paedophile tries to blame dead brother for images
A PAEDOPHILE tried to blame his dead brother for a series of indecent images found on his computer.
In the Royal Court Ian Andrew Pierre Roussel, 58, eventually pleaded guilty to 13 counts of making and distributing indecent images and videos of children.
The images were made – downloaded – between January 2014 and December 2015, while indecent images were distributed between January and August 2016.
He was sentenced to two years in prison, as well as a five-year extended sentence.
Judge Russell Finch said while none of the children pictured were in Guernsey, this sort of case showed how children all over the world were exploited.
‘It’s not a victimless crime,’ he said.
Roussel was arrested in January 2019 at work. His home was searched and a PC was found under a desk in an attic room and an Apple iPhone was also seized.
In total, 604 images were found on the computer, of which 13 were indecent, although others were borderline. There was also 12 thumbnail caches of indecent images found. It was believed the images were downloaded to the computer from the iPhone.
Several email addresses were registered to the computer and an email exchange with a man named Yuri was found. In total, 32 indecent images and videos were found to have been sent or received by email.
In interview Roussel initially said no comment. He later told the police he had been trying to trap a Dutch man by getting him to send indecent images, so he could report him to the police.
At a later interview he said his brother was a convicted paedophile and had access to the computer before he moved to Latvia, where he died in April 2015.
Roussel denied any knowledge of sharing images via email or of using the Kik messenger app - an anonymous messenger service.
The images that Roussel had downloaded were analysed against a set of guidelines, where five is the most serious level. In total it was found that 28 indecent images were downloaded and 27 distributed, ranging from level one up to level four.
Defence advocate Samuel Steel said the case did not involve a large number of images, there had not been large scale distribution and there was no evidence his client had made financial gain. He also asked the court to note that his client had no previous matters on his record and the case had not involved any local children.
Roussel was born and bred in Guernsey and suffered abuse when he was a child. Advocate Steel said his client had a history of trauma and had been suffering since being in prison. Once released Roussel planned to join his wife in the UK.
Advocate Steel appealed to the court not to confiscate and destroy the computer, as his client wanted to use it to go back to work when he was released. Roussel also said he had a project for the Ministry of Defence on it, however a check by police specialists found only files on aircraft wakes, which could be found using a Google search.
The two years prison sentence was handed down on all 13 charges and will run concurrently. A five year extended sentence was also handed down. If he fails to comply with the conditions, he could be sent back to prison. This includes having his technology checked and not being allowed to leave the island without permission.
He will also have to register with the police for 10 years.