Whitby paedophile jailed again for downloading more indecent images of children

Simon Richard Abbott, 34, from Whitby, was jailed for 22 months in September last year for breaching a sexual-harm prevention order by deleting his internet history.

The sentencing judge at the time warned him that if police found any more indecent images on his devices, he would receive another consecutive jail sentence.

And more vile images were found, which meant Abbott found himself back in the dock on Tuesday (Jan 11) after he admitted two counts of downloading indecent images of minors.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said the 199 images were downloaded in Scarborough between December 2017 and August 2020.

Abbott had been living in Whitby before his incarceration in September 2021.

In July of that year, police monitoring officers visited Abbott’s home in Iburndale Lane, Sleights, to check he was complying with the sexual-harm order following his release from prison for previous sexual offences.

They seized an Asus laptop and Abbott - whose addiction was described as nigh-on “unprecedented” in its persistence - confessed to officers that he had deleted “things” and that they would find illegal images on his computer.

He told police he “couldn’t help himself”.

Police analysed his devices including a tablet and found nearly 200 illegal images while Abbott was banged up for the breach.

Ms Morrison said the children in the images “look as young as three”.

Abbott’s first jail sentence was a three-year prison term in January 2015 for 27 counts of sexual offences including making and distributing indecent photos of children and possessing 30,000 illegal images.

About 23,000 of them were described as “Level 1” in seriousness.

After being arrested for those offences, Abbott, currently registered as of no fixed address, was released on bail whereupon he downloaded thousands more indecent images in the space of a week and uploaded them onto Instagram.

As part of his sentence, he was made subject to a lifetime sexual-harm prevention order which prohibited him from possessing or deleting indecent images from his devices.

David Camidge, for Abbott, said his client, who had been working in a kitchen, accepted that he was a paedophile and needed help through rehabilitation.

He said Abbott’s “difficulties” with illegal pornography were “fairly unprecedented” and his probation report made for “bleak” reading.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said it was clear that Abbott “got his kicks” out of searching for paedophilic material on the internet.

He told Abbott: “I told you when we last met that it would be a consecutive sentence (if further indecent images were discovered).

“This is an old offence now and I take into account that the numbers (of images) involved are not particularly high, but you have to learn that when you do this, you are going to go to prison.”

Abbott was jailed for 12 months, consecutive to the 22 months he received in September last year.

The sexual-harm prevention order, mainly to curb his internet activities, will remain in place.