Philip Sansby, then aged 71, of Bradley Green Road, Hyde, Greater Manchester, has received a suspended custodial sentence at Minshull Street Crown Court after police uncovered more than 1,000 extreme pornographic files and severe child abuse imagery stored on his computer.
The prosecution arose following an intelligence-led operation conducted by Greater Manchester Police in September 2019.
Officers executed a search warrant at Sansby’s residential address, confronting him with allegations that he had downloaded and distributed illicit child abuse material.
Upon being challenged by officers, Sansby stated: “I downloaded it but I scrubbed it off.”
Police seized a Toshiba laptop along with multiple external hard drives for examination.
Prosecuting barrister Nicola Carroll informed the court that when Sansby voluntarily attended a police station for an interview the following month, he admitted downloading adult pornography but denied harbouring any sexual attraction toward children, claiming any illicit downloads were accidental.
However, comprehensive digital forensic extraction of the seized laptop exposed a calculated collection of illegal material.
Specialist examiners identified Category A indecent images—the most severe category under UK law—involving children aged between 10 and 16 years old.
The analysis also recovered a 23-minute video file documenting a horrific sexual offence committed against a child aged under 16.
Furthermore, examiners identified a series of folders that had recently been emptied of their contents, which bore explicitly named paedophilic titles.
The digital search additionally recovered 1,099 images alongside video files categorised as extreme pornography, with portions of the illicit material depicting sexual acts involving animals.
Following the forensic disclosures, Sansby made full admissions to detectives, conceding that he had frequented “pre-teen” websites while claiming he was unaware that possessing such media constituted a criminal offence.
Appearing before Minshull Street Crown Court, Sansby entered formal guilty pleas to:
- Possessing indecent photographs of children
- Possessing extreme pornography
Passing sentence, the presiding judge stated that the court was able to suspend the custodial sentence having considered the remorse demonstrated by the defendant, adding that he hoped Sansby could receive professional intervention to cure him of the sickness.
The judge imposed a 12-month custodial sentence, suspended for an operational period.
Under the provisions of the suspended sentence order, Sansby was directed to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirements under probation supervision and pay £510 toward prosecution costs.
Additionally, the court granted a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) restricting his digital device usage and ordered Sansby to comply with the statutory notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Register for a duration of 10 years.
Image credit- Anonymous Artist Impression
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