Man avoids jail after being caught with AI generated child images

A pervert was caught with computer generated images of children which were sexually explicit.

Police visited Mark Stedham's home in Feburary last year for a regular review as part of a sexual harm prevention order he was given in 2017 for making indecent images.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the officers realised some downloads had been deleted from his laptop so arrested him for breach of that order.

When his computer was examined, five computer generated images, featuring children aged between five and nine, were found.

Stedham, 52, of Barmston Centre, Washington, Tyne and Wear, admitted possessing prohibited images.

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Judge Gavin Doig sentenced him to six months, suspended for two years with rehabilitation requirements to address Stedham's "warped thinking".

The court heard Stedham was jailed for 26 weeks at a separate magistrates court hearing earlier this year for breach of the sexual harm prevention order by deleting material from his laptop.

He was released from the jail term and failed to comply with sex offender notification requirements so was given a community order for that.

Sue Hirst, defending, said Stedham is now working well with the probation service.

Miss Hirst added: "These aren't images of real children, fortunately."