‘Disgusting’ sex offender who molested adult now caged for child abuse images

A ‘despicable’ paedophile from Runcorn caught with around 10,000 child abuse images on his laptop has been given an extra year in prison just two months after he was convicted of molesting a mentally-disabled adult.
Mark Theobold, 60, of Hazel Avenue, was already serving 45 months in prison when His Honour Judge Simon Berkson handed him another 12 months behind bars plus a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) this morning at Chester Crown Court.
Theobold had pleaded guilty to five counts of making and possessing indecent or prohibited images of children.
These varied in severity between 9,295 Category C images he had and the 552 images of the worst type, classed as Category A.
Police discovered the vile trove of photographs and videos on Theobold’s laptop when they arrested him in 2016 as part of their investigation into accusations that Theobold had molested an adult, for which he went on to plead guilty to one charge of touching and three of sexual activity with a mentally-disordered adult who could not consent over a string of sickening incidents.
Jeremy Rawson, representing Theobold, said his client’s offences were ‘wholly disgusting and unacceptable’, but referred to his guilty pleas and previous ‘good character’ at the time of his arrest that he had been hard-working and had suffered from cancer aged 25, which his last sentencing hearing heard had forced him to leave his job with chemical company ICI.
Judge Berkson branded Theobold ‘s offending ‘despicable’ and sentenced him to 12 months in prison to be served consecutively to the 45 he is already serving, bringing the total to just under five years.
Sending the degenerate down, Judge Berkson said: “Those images in some cases were the worst type of child abuse images you could imagine that have been referred to in court today – Category A.
“What makes this worse than usual is eight were movies.
“You can therefore judge the length of time that those children were abused for adults like you to watch.
April 2018
Runcorn man who sexually abused learning disabled adult jailed
A pervert from Runcorn was jailed for sexually abusing a learning disabled adult who cried after he assaulted them.
Mark Theobold, 60, was sentenced to 45 months in prison after pleading guilty to one charge over touching and three counts of sexual activity with a mentally-disordered adult who could not consent.
Prosecutor Dafydd Roberts told Chester Crown Court on Friday how Theobold’s vulnerable victim, who has learning disabilities, had been sick and cried after one of ordeals, in an incident they had tried to resist.
The offences happened over a two-month period.
A parent of the abuse victim said in a statement that it had been a ‘very tough experience’ for them, and they now want to be accompanied when going out due to feeling ‘mistrustful’ of others.
In addition, the ordeals had caused depression, anxiety and sleeplessness.
Mr Dafydd said Theobold, of Hazel Avenue, told police in interview that the sexual activity was ‘consensual’, however the defendant went on to enter four guilty pleas two weeks before trial.
The judge, Recorder Anthony O’Donohoe, ordered two charges to lie on file and placed Theobold on the sex offenders’ register for life.
There was no application to make a Sexual Harm Prevention Order or restraining order.
Jeremy Rawson, defending, said Theobold had no previous convictions and merited a reduced sentence for entering guilty pleas before trial.
He said his client was in ‘many respects an unremarkable man’ who had worked all his life, having had to leave a job with chemical giant ICI when he was 25 years old due to cancer.
Mr Rawson said Theobold had shown ‘regret and remorse’.
Recorder O’Donohoe sentenced Theobold to three years and nine months in prison, reduced from six years due to his guilty pleas.
He said: “These are serious matters because the victim in this case has what is described as a learning disability and has serious cognitive disabilities and lacks the capacity to consent to your sexual activities.”