An 80-year-old Newport paedophile, Alfred Bale, was discovered with over 1,000 disturbing photographs depicting the abuse of children as young as three years old. He conducted repugnant online searches for “young teen boys” and “old men young boys.”
On September 10 of the previous year, Gwent Police visited Alfred Bale at his residence in Newport, but he originally denied them entry, prompting them to forcibly break the latch. Upon gaining admission, a search was conducted, resulting in the seizure and examination of goods including an Acer desktop, a Lenovo laptop, and a mobile phone.
During a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court, it was revealed that almost 1,100 indecent photos of minors were found, including 256 category A images, 271 category B images, and 584 category C images.
Additionally discovered were 40 extreme pornographic photographs and 346 images that were “indicative of children.”
One of the photographs portrayed a three-year-old girl being sexually assaulted by an adult male.
Internet search queries were conducted on multiple devices, including “young teen boys,” “old men young boys,” “naked boy,” and “animals sex with men.”
Prosecutor Christopher Evans stated that the timestamps of the downloaded images date back to 2006.
Anti-forensic software was also found on the defendant’s devices.
Alfred Bale, of Malmesbury Close, later pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images and one count of possessing extreme pornography.
The court heard the defendant, Alfred Bale, has six previous convictions including past offences of making indecent images.
In mitigation Martha Smith-Higgins said her client had health issues which led him to “falling back into old habits” and said he has suffered two heart attacks, two strokes, and two incidents of bleeding on the brain.
Sentencing, Judge Eugene Egan said: “The reality of each of these cases is a sad truth: somewhere in the world a real child was sexually abused to create the content you saw.
“The rationale behind this disgusting behaviour by those creating these disgusting images is there are warped people like you interested in such disgusting content.
“You should ponder on that and the plight of those poor children.”
Alfred Bale was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment suspended for 21 months.
Alfred Bale was made subject to a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement, fined £500, ordered to pay £150 court costs, and made subject to sex offender notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.
Gwent Police have decided not to release his image so you won’t be able to see him coming.
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this website, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.