Man, 33, found with images of young boys on his phone

In the Royal Court yesterday the 33-year-old admitted making the images by downloading them and was jailed for 18 months.

Judge Graeme McKerrell described the crime as abhorrent.

Police had searched Le Lerre’s flat after being told that he had uploaded indecent images to a social media site.

Although Le Lerre provided several pin codes, none of them worked, so the phone was sent to the UK to be unlocked.

On its return, the high-tech crime unit found hundreds of thumbnails of indecent images in the phone’s gallery application.

There were 170 images in Category A, the most serious, 169 in category B and 608 in category C – 947 in total.

The images showed boys thought to be aged between 10 and 13, all of which had been viewed before the main images were deleted.

The defendant had admitted the offences on his first appearance in the Royal Court.

For Le Lerre, Advocate Chris Green said that the defendant had received a link to the photos from a friend and he admitted downloading and then viewing them.

He had deleted them afterwards, not realising that thumbnails would remain in the gallery.

The offences had been committed at a particularly low point in his life, said the advocate.

Le Lerre had been in a relationship which was breaking down at the time.

He had also been diagnosed with Klinefelter Syndrome, a rare condition which causes learning difficulties.

Le Lerre suffered from depression and anxiety, had self-harmed since he was 14 and continued to do so.

The bulk of the images involved were of the lowest category, said the advocate.

Judge McKerrell said the court was sceptical over Le Lerre’s explanation of how he had obtained the images. While many had been category C, the descriptions indicated that these were at the upper end of that category.

The court had taken note of the mitigation relating to Le Lerre’s medical condition and the fact that was he was regarded as a vulnerable person.

Nonetheless, he said that the crime was ‘truly abhorrent and revolting, for which there can be no excuse’.

Le Lerre, who had previously given an address of Flat 4, Hillgrove, Rocquettes Lane, St Peter Port, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the category A images, 12 months concurrent for the category Bs and nine months, concurrent, for the Cs.

On release he would be subject to a three-year extended sentence and he was also made subject of a five-year notification order with immediate effect.

The forfeiture and destruction of the phone was ordered.

BOX

LE LERRE faced additional charges in the Magistrate’s Court after he was sentenced in the Royal Court.

This saw Judge Graeme McKerrell returning alone to sentence Le Lerre on three counts of fraud by false representation.

These related to a number of different occasions on which he had used a relative’s debit card without permission on Amazon, Google and PayPal.

Le Lerre had originally denied the offences, but changed his plea before a trial was held.

The court heard that Le Lerre had obtained the details of a debit card belonging to a relative when they went on a night out together – although this aspect of the prosecution’s case was disputed.

The victim had noticed later that his bank statement showed money taken out of it for various purchases that he did not remember.

Le Lerre had set up a new Amazon account with his relative’s card and purchased 37 items amounting to £233.16.

He already had a Google Play account and this showed 51 transactions using the debit card, totalling £391.79.

And the defendant had paid about £600 to a friend in Alderney via PayPal.

The total amount of money spent was about £1,400.

Advocate Green said Le Lerre accepted his guilt. The probation report said he was of low likelihood of reoffending.

The offence could perhaps be best understood in the context of his poor money handling skills and decision making.

Judge McKerrell said Le Lerre had undertaken a ‘quite deliberate’ course of conduct to obtain money and spending to a considerable degree.

He imposed three-month prison sentences for each offence, to run concurrent with each other but consecutive to the 18 months’ sentence handed down by the Royal Court.