Spalding man jailed for downloading sick child abuse videos

Gene Swallow was arrested after police raided his home in Spalding and discovered that he had used a flash drive connected to his television to access the illegal films.

Christopher Geeson, prosecuting, told Lincoln Crown Court that one of the films, which was 53 minutes long, showed the abuse of a girl of just two or three-years-old. A second film showed an eight year old being sexually assaulted.

Swallow (46), of Acklam Avenue, Spalding, admitted two charges of making indecent images of children in November 2015.

He was placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and given a sexual harm prevention order which is designed to restrict his behaviour on release from his prison sentence.

Judge Simon Hirst, passing sentence, told him: “These are not victimless offences. The children in these films suffer the most horrendous abuse.

“People like you downloading these films and watching them are encouraging that type of child exploitation.

“This, in my judgement, is so serious that only a custodial sentence will do.”

Mark Watson, in mitigation, told the court: “This defendant’s life has changed for the worse. He has been unable to work in the way that he did in the past.

“He has found himself reclusive and all of this has already taken its toll on him.

“He is plainly a complex individual with problems that have perhaps not been properly explained.

“He is described as somebody who is a low risk of reoffending. If the probation service work with him that low risk may be reduced to nil.

“He has already lost an awful lot. I ask you not to compound that by taking away his liberty.”

The investigating officer, DC Alan Wilson, from the Internet Child Abuse Team, said: “Every time we investigate an offence our main aim is to safeguard children, to save them from harm’s way. Preventing offenders like Gene Lee Swallow from committing further offences goes a long way to protecting our communities from sexual predators.”