Suspended jail sentence for Scarborough 60-year-old who downloaded child sex abuse video

A 60-year-old Scarborough man who downloaded indecent images of children has received a suspended prison sentence.
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David Baggallay was arrested after police searched his home and seized a computer tower and a Samsung phone, York Crown Court heard.

Examination of a hard drive showed that Baggallay had downloaded a video featuring the sexual abuse of a child. The video was rated Category A – the worst kind of such material.

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Analysis of both devices also revealed “indicative internet activity” in which more indecent images had been viewed and then deleted, said prosecutor David Bradshaw.

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The deleted images featured sexual scenes involving both boys and girls aged between 10 and 14 years.

Baggallay was taken in for questioning following the police search on November 20 2018, but initially denied “all knowledge” of the indecent material.

However, in a second interview he admitted that he had “not told the truth” and had been using “peer-to-peer” websites where he saw a file titled ‘Jail bait’ and “opened it out of curiosity”, added Mr Bradshaw.

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Baggallay, of Seamer Road, appeared for sentence on Wednesday after ultimately pleading guilty to one count of making an indecent image of a child. No charges relating to the deleted images were ever brought.

Defence barrister Nick Peacock offered no mitigation after judge Simon Hickey said he would not be sending Baggallay to jail despite evidence showing that he had an “unhealthy interest in young children”.

The judge said he had noted that Baggallay had used special wiping software to delete other images which “showed exactly what you were doing”.

He added, however, that Baggallay had been a working man who had already taken steps to rid himself of his online habit through the voluntary Safer Lives programme.

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He also noted that Baggallay had never been in trouble before, had been a working man and gave him credit for his guilty plea.

Baggallay was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to complete a 30-day rehabilitation course.

He was also made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order which will last for 10 years and is designed primarily to curb his internet activity.