Mark Barnes 43

Description

A man who distributed sexual images of children has been jailed for two years and four months.

Mark Barnes, 43, was found with various mobile phones when police visited his home in of Wallers Close, Great Chishill, near Royston, on January 11, 2024.  

This breached a court order from January 2014 when he was registered as a sex offender.

The phones and tablets revealed he had distributed 14 category A (the most severe), five category B and 25 category C, indecent photographs of children between July 2022 and March 2023.

He had also made more than 2,000 indecent photographs of children: 628 category A images, 496 category B and 1163 category C.

He claimed he was borrowing one phone from his neighbour, but police found another phone containing sexual images in a suitcase under a bed.

Barnes appeared at Peterborough Crown Court on Tuesday (4 November) and admitted making and distributing indecent photographs of children, failing to comply with the Sex Offenders Register and breaching a sexual offences prevention order.

He was jailed and given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), banning him from owning any device on which he can access the internet.

He was also barred from using any remote storage devices, including cloud storage and will have mandatory notification requirements indefinitely.

All the devices recovered by the police have been destroyed.

DC Andrew McKeane said:

“Barnes was fully aware his actions were in breach of his SHPO but he chose to ignore it.

“He showed a blatant disregard for the law and lied about owning the phones and tablets to protect himself.”