Suspended sentence for man with cartoon sex images of child upheld

Matthew Gore had been given a four-week jail sentence, suspended for two years, by a Swindon judge in June 2021, but had referred the case to London’s Court of Appeal.

The now 42-year-old was found in possession of 22 indecent cartoon images of children in 2019, which he had downloaded in 2016.

His advocate, Nicholas Lee, claimed that the custody threshold had not been passed in the case and that the judge was wrong to issue a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) - claiming he was not a risk to the public.

But the panel, made up of Lord Justice Sir Charles Anthony Haddon-Cave, Mr Justice Picken and Judge Anuja Dhir QC, dismissed the case on both grounds.

They ruled that a pre-sentence and psychiatric report provided “ample justification” for sentencing judge Jason Taylor QC to conclude the case crossed the custody threshold, citing it was a “repeat offence” and there was “no assurance that any future offences can be limited to cartoon images”.

The panel also ruled that Judge Taylor QC was entitled to agree with probation that a SHPO was necessary.

Earlier in the hearing, which lasted for just over an hour on Wednesday afternoon, the court had been told how whilst the offence had been “deeply offensive and shocking”, it “did not cause harm to real children”.

Mr Lee also said that it was a “relatively small number” of images.

The court was told how Gore, of Littlejohn Avenue, had accessed the images on April 11, 2016, after his arrest for a separate incident of making indecent photos of children and possessing prohibited images of children, but before he was sentenced for it in 2017.

The photos only came to light in 2019, when police examined his computer devices. They searched 14 electronic devices, finding 22 images on one device.

“That combination of facts puts Mr Gore in a different bracket to an offender that is accessing illegal images on multiple occasions,” Mr Lee told the court.

He also said that Gore is on the autism spectrum and has a learning disability, which meant that whilst he admitted possession of the images, he could not understand why it was wrong.

Mr Lee cited two psychiatric reports which suggested should Gore end up in prison, he would be at risk of exploitation, bullying and self-harm.

“When the court considers the mitigation, the offence falls below the custodial threshold anyway,” he said. “If the case remains on the cusp, the potentially devastating consequences of even a short custodial sentence is reason to draw back to a community order.”

He added that probation’s conclusion a SHPO was necessary due to the fact there is a “high risk” of reoffending and of Gore being “trapped in a cycle of reoffending” was “not substantiated by the facts”.

“It is my submission that when the facts are looked at in the round, Mr Gore poses a relatively low risk of accessing images of children in the future,” Mr Lee concluded, citing a now seven-year period since he last accessed indecent images of real children.

Delivering the panel’s verdict, Judge Dhir read sentencing comments from Judge Taylor, who said: “According to probation, you could be trapped in a cycle of offending.

“I agree with them that you need a stark reminder that this court does not dance to your tune. You do not dictate the terms.

“Your perceptions need to be challenged, and I say that as compassionately as I can.”

Judge Dhir continued: “The current case is an unusual one, but in our judgement both the pre-sentence reports and [the psychiatric report] provide ample justification for the judge’s conclusion that the custody threshold was met.

“This was a repeat offence. There can be no assurance that any future offences can be limited to cartoon images.

“Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal.”

The original sentence – a four week jail term suspended for two years, plus 50 rehabilitation activity days and a five-year sexual harm prevention order – will continue.