Sutton man who downloaded child porn didn’t realise they were underage

Luke Mason downloaded 10 category C images of children, where category A is the most extreme, onto his phone between January 16 and June 22, last year, Mansfield Magistrates’ Court was told.

Daniel Pietryka, prosecuting, said Mason, aged 20, accepted responsibility and showed remorse for what he had done.

Only two of the images showed a face, the court was told, and Mason has no previous convictions for similar offences.

When he was interviewed by police, he said he did not know the children were under the age of 16.

Mason, of Chatsworth Street, Sutton, admitted possession of indecent photographs.

Nicola Thorpe, mitigating, said he deserved full credit for his guilty plea and he cooperated fully with the police.

She said: “It is a relatively low number of images and they are in the least serious category.”

Mason suffers with his mental health and he has been diagnosed with emotionally-unstable personality disorder.

Ms Thorpe said: “He tells me he was chatting with others online and they told him they were over 16.”

The offence was serious enough for magistrates to make a three-year community order with a 43-day programme for sex offenders and 55 rehabilitation days.

Mason was placed on the sex offenders register for five years and a five-year sexual harm prevention order was imposed to monitor his internet activity. He was also fined £200 and ordered to pay a £95 surcharge and £85 costs.