South Yorkshire pervert loses wife and job after he is caught with indecent images of youngsters - but is spared jail

A pervert has lost his wife and job after police caught him with over 1,000 indecent images of children.
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Sheffield Crown Court heard on August 3 how Mark Potts, aged 52, of Sailsbury Road, Maltby, was caught with 11 category A indecent movies, five category B indecent movies, one category C indecent movie, 1,036 category C indecent images and one extreme pornographic image.

He was spared jail.

Matthew Burdon, prosecuting, said: “On June 27, 2019, police officers attended an address in Maltby, Rotherham, and executed a search warrant.

Sheffield Crown Court, pictured, has heard how a pervert has lost his wife and his job after he was caught by police with indecent images and movies of youngsters.Sheffield Crown Court, pictured, has heard how a pervert has lost his wife and his job after he was caught by police with indecent images and movies of youngsters.
Sheffield Crown Court, pictured, has heard how a pervert has lost his wife and his job after he was caught by police with indecent images and movies of youngsters.

“The defendant was not present when the search warrant was executed and he was subsequently arrested at work.”

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Mr Burdon added police seized two external hard drives and a laptop and discovered the indecent images and movies ranging from category A to category C, with category A being the most serious.

Potts was found to have accessed websites with some appalling titles concerning indecent images of children including one referring to rape, according to Mr Burdon.

The defendant, who worked in the engineering industry and is of previous good character, pleaded guilty to the five offences relating to possessing the different categories of images and movies and the extreme pornographic image all dating between April 9 and June 25, 2019.

Mark Dooley, defending, said: “Since these incidents came to light he has pretty much lost everything.”

Mr Dooley added Potts, who has expressed remorse, was arrested in front of work colleagues and he has lost his job, has since separated from his wife and has become a recluse.

Judge Peter Kelson QC told Potts: “You are before me in respect of possession of a number of images, moving and still, and of course nobody could have failed to hear the search terms you were using without being repulsed.

“You are a man in his 50s of good character who by reason of this offending has lost everything and in those circumstances the inevitable prison sentence can be suspended.”

Potts was sentenced to eight months of custody suspended for two years with a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.

He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.