‘You peddled in filth’ – Judge tells pervert who downloaded indecent images of children

A judge said a man who admitted downloading and distributing indecent images of children “peddled in filth”.
Kevin Hopson, of no fixed address but formerly of Holyhead, also admitted creating false profiles on a social media website and encouraged youngsters to send him indecent pictures of themselves.
The 42 year-old was jailed for three years and his details must remain on the sex offenders register indefinately.
Judge Huw Rees, sitting at Caernarfon Crown Court, said: “You are sexually interested in children and you were actively engaged in that.
“You must understand, if you do not already, the effect that has. It creates a demand for further abuse of children to satisfy the unhealthy, degenerate interest. Images are shared extensively on the internet and remain there for ever.
“That is why your offending is so serious. In a pithy and short way, you peddled in filth.”
Prosecutor Simon Rogers said the 12 charges – three of possessing indecent images, two of distributing such images, five of attempting to incite teenagers to engage in sexual activity and two of causing a child to watch sexual activity – represented a snapshot of Hopson’s offending.
The lawyer said Hopson created two false profiles on Kik, a social media website. One was of a 16 year-old boy and the other as a 12 year-old girl.
Hopson actively sought out children and had sexually explicit conversations online. Arrested and interviewed last November Hopson initially denied having the conversations with children claiming they were only with adults.
He said indecent images of children would sometimes appear, but he would delete them immediately.
“A mobile phone and computer equipment were seized for expert analysis abnd this showed a rather different account,” he said.
Chat logs revealed Hopson had received indecent images of young people aged between 12 months and 16 years and had then shared them online.
“As the boy there were two conversations with two girls who both sent intimate photographs of themselves to him.
“Posing as the 12 year-old girl he chatted with several boys and received similar images from them,” he said.