South Shields man sold iPhone on Gumtree which contained indecent pictures of boys

Man spared jail after selling an iPhone on Gumtree which contained indecent pictures of boys as young as nine.
The case was heard at Newcastle Crown Court.The case was heard at Newcastle Crown Court.
The case was heard at Newcastle Crown Court.

But, when he returned home after buying the 24-year-old's phone, he discovered it contained pornographic images of young boys between the age of 9 and 12 years old.

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Stuart Graham, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court: "When he used the phone he saw there were photographs on the phone and a few of the photographs were of child pornography."

He said Mr Anderson, 31, looked through the emails on the phone and noticed they were still in Moore's name.

Mr Graham said: "Because of what he'd seen, Mr Anderson immediately contacted the police and handed over the phone, which was interrogated."

The court heard how police searched Moore's address and other computer devices belonging to him following the sale in December 2017.

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Mr Graham said that none of these devices contained any indecent images of children.

Moore, of East Smith Street, South Shields, South Tyneside, admitted three charges of making indecent images.

When interviewed by police, Moore said he had been sent the images by a random person on Snapchat.

Jennifer Coxon, defending, told the court how Moore had screenshot the images in order to tell the police himself but, due to being on nightshift, it ‘fell to the back of his mind’.

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She said the fact the images were still on the phone when he sold it suggests that Moore had forgotten about them or put them to the back of his mind.

She said Moore, who has no previous convictions, had showed his own disgust of the general offence and the harm it can cause.

Judge Robert Spragg told Moore: "It does appear, therefore, no evidence that you were looking generally for these images but of course when they come through you should have deleted them immediately or contacted the police.”

Judge Spragg sentenced Moore to a two year community order with rehabilitation and a sexual harm prevention order for five years.

Moore was told to pay £150 compensation to Mr Anderson for loss of the phone.