Peterborough sex offender had indecent images of children as young as two on mobile phone

Kevin Kowalski (58) of George Street, Peterborough, was locked up for three years after admitting a number of offences at Peterborough Crown Court yesterday.

Along with the more than 6,000 images he had downloaded, Kowalski also admitted fraud, breaching notification requirements and sexual offences prevention orders relating to previous offences, and possession of an axe at the Peterborough station car park.

The court heard police were investigating Kowlaksi for the breaches of orders when the discovered the images on the three devices.

Jonathan Masters, prosecuting, told the court: “Kowalski was first convicted of a sexual offence in 2004, and was made subject to notification requirements.

He was convicted of harassment in 2007, with the offences having a sexual element, and he was given a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO).

“The terms of the SOPO said he had to stay at his address unless he told police in advance.

“He failed to do this on two occasions.

“He created a false identity, to set up a bank account.”

Mr Masters told the court the fraud related to a job application he made, where he did not tell the potential employers of his criminal past.

He told the court there were a total of 6,444 images found on the three devices - including more than 1,000 at category A - the most serious category of images.

Joseph McKenna, defending, said Kowalski had the axe in his car because he used it to chop firewood.

He said: “He tells the court is has been many years since he looked at indecent images before this offending. His last offence was in 2004, and he says he started looking at images again in 2014 - a 10 year gap.

“He says he started offending because of his living and working circumstances. He was depressed, our of work, and was bored and consuming more alcohol.”

He pleaded guilty to three counts of making (downloading) indecent images of children, three counts of possession of indecent images of children, one count of possession of prohibited images of children, one count of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place, one count of fraud, two counts of breaching a SOPO and one count of breaching notification requirements.

In total he was given a three year jail sentence, with a new sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) put in place for ten years.

The phone, computer and tablet were ordered to be destroyed.