Scarborough father and son sentenced for downloading hundreds of illegal images

Darren Dalali, 49, and his son Lewis James Barnes, 26, were living together during their nefarious online activities, York Crown Court heard.

Dalali downloaded more than 1,200 indecent images of children over an eight-month period between December 2020 and July 2021.

Prosecutor Nathan Davis said the 1,227 debauched photos and videos included 152 rated Category A – the worst kind of such material involving the sexual abuse of children.

Barnes downloaded 371 illicit images, including 99 Category A photos, during a one-week period in July 2021.

Police swooped on their home in Scarborough on July 21, 2021, and seized their mobile phones.

Mr Davis said that children as young as four were featured in the vile shots downloaded by Dalali, of Blands Cliff.

Analysis of his phone revealed a “vast” collection of indecent images of all levels of depravity.

He and Barnes were each charged with three counts of making indecent images and admitted the offences.

They were both due to face sentence together on Wednesday, July 24, but only Dalali appeared initially because Barnes’ arrival in court was delayed, ostensibly due to a broken leg.

Mr Davis said Dalali had seven previous convictions dating back to the early 1980s, mainly for violence but none of a sexual nature.

At the time of his vile internet offences, he was on a suspended prison sentence for carrying a blade.

Dalali, an alcoholic, told police had had been searching for illicit material “once every fortnight”.

Defence barrister Zarreen Alan-Cheetham said Dalali had since been cautioned for theft in 2022.

He had worked for major furniture companies and a leading supplier of mobility aids in the past but was now living off benefits.

Barnes was brought up from the cells in the afternoon court session as he was already serving a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence for burglary.

That sentence was imposed at the same court in October last year.

Barnes hobbled up the steps into the dock with a pronounced limp.

It’s understood he broke his leg during the burglary for which he was jailed last year.

Mr Davis told the court that when police arrived at the home that Barnes shared with his father, they seized two of his phones on which they found both indecent images and “extreme pornography”.

Barnes told police he had an “addiction to pornography” but couldn’t recall downloading the indecent imagery.

He had used an alias on apps and a “dodgy (web) site” to view indecent images but, unlike his father Dalali, there was “no evidence of deliberate searching for (under-age) material”.

Mr Davis said that Barnes had 11 previous convictions for 33 offences, including outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner in December 2019.

Barnes, who represented himself in court, said that “people sent me (illegal) stuff” on the online platforms and “I clicked on it”.

He was in a “bad place” at the time and had committed the burglary while high on drugs.

He said his criminal record was due in part to “smoking weed for (about) 12 years”.

Barnes received a six-month jail sentence for the indecent images, but judge Simon Hickey said this would be concurrent with the 30-month sentence he was currently serving for burglary.

He was due to be released in January next year.

Barnes was ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for seven years and was made subject to a five-year sexual-harm prevention order, mainly to curb his internet activities.

Mr Hickey told his father Dalali: “You obviously have an unhealthy and illegal interest in pre-teen girls.”

However, he noted that Dalali had engaged well with the Probation Service in the past, there was a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation” and he had shown “clear remorse”.

He said that for those reasons, and despite the “vast” number of images, he could suspend the inevitable jail sentence in his case.

Dalali’s 10-month jail sentence was suspended for 18 months.

He was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years and made subject to a 10-year sexual-harm prevention order to limit and monitor his online activities.

In addition, he was ordered to complete 25 rehabilitation-activity days and take part in an alcohol-treatment programme.