Court / Paedophile who called his own offending ‘evil’ jailed
Content warning: This story contains details of child sexual abuse. If you have been affected by this issue, help is available.
A MAN who referred to his own repeated downloading of child abuse imagery as “evil” has been jailed for more than two years.
Henry Hunter will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for six years, which will severely limit his use of the internet and contact with young children.
And he will also be placed under licence for 18 months after his release from prison.
The 37-year-old had previously admitted downloading 39 category A still images and another 27 category C photos between 16 October 2023 and 26 August 2024.
He purchased a new computer the day after his release from prison for a previous child abuse imagery offence.
Hunter was released having been jailed for 19 months in March 2022 for possessing more than 1,000 child abuse images over a 16-year period.
The images Hunter downloaded after his release were described as being “strikingly similar” to the ones he had been caught with previously, Lerwick Sheriff Court heard previously.
As well as the 66 category A and C images he admitted to downloading, Mackenzie said another 2,226 images were discovered which were “borderline”.
Hunter had a “perverse predilection with young children being restrained” or tickled. A police search of his internet history discovered an “unhealthy interest” in this.
He appeared via video-link from Grampian Prison on Wednesday having been told last month that a jail sentence was “inevitable”.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said a sexual harm prevention order was also essential, saying Hunter “stimulates the demand for very young children to be subject to extreme sexual violence”.
“He does present a risk of sexual harm,” he added.
Allan said it would be “difficult for me” to argue against the imposition of such an order.
A warrant was executed at Hunter’s address in Lerwick’s Ladies Drive on 26 August last year after police received intelligence that he may have been accessing indecent images again.
Police discovered a tower computer there, which they found contained abusive still images of children – all of which were initially “inaccessible”.
Mackenzie said that though a relatively low number of images were found, he pointed out this had been a “very quick return to offending” by Hunter.
He added this offence was in “an almost identical fashion” to his previous conviction, and said Hunter was “determined to persist in this behaviour”.
Defence agent Allan said his client had previously been left “isolated” by abuse from neighbours.
But at court on Wednesday he said Hunter had been involved in volunteering with local groups and charities at the time of his arrest last year.
However Allan said posters had been left around Hunter’s home identifying him as a sex offender after his release from his prison.
“Anxiety and paranoia” had kicked in, at which point Hunter’s “struggles began” again, Allan added.
The solicitor said a social work report had found Hunter was “dealing with an addiction”, but that he understood the consequences of his actions.
He described the incident as “almost like a cry for help”.
“He is genuinely ashamed of his offending behaviour, which he describes as ‘evil’,” Allan said.
Hunter “has to have some hope that he will be able to stop this offending” however, his solicitor added, saying he did not want prison to be a “revolving door” for him.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank called this a “concerning and extremely serious offence”.
The number of images was not the “determining factor” in Hunter’s sentence, he said.
However the “marked similarity” between the images downloaded in both of his offences was, along with their “extreme nature”.
The images download “depict horrendous abuse of young and vulnerable children,” he added.
The sheriff said Hunter would have to be subject to a sexual harm prevention order, which puts a number of conditions on him upon his release.
Hunter will not be able to own any internet-accessing device, telephone numbers or email addresses without the written consent of police.
Any device he does own must record his internet search history, which police will be able to check and search whenever they require.
And he must have no contact with children under the age of 16 – unless supervised by an adult 21 or over – unless it is inadvertent or unavoidable.
Those conditions are placed on him for the next six years.
Hunter was also jailed for 28 months, backdated to 27 August 2024 when he was placed in custody.
He will also be placed under licence for a period of 18 months following his release, with the conditions to be imposed by Scottish ministers.
Finally Hunter will be placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.
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