Father and son child porn cases 'unrelated': REALLY? (Farnborough, England, United Kingdom)

Pssst. Wanna buy a bridge?

Honestly, how stupid do the authorities believe we are? Of course, these cases are related. Do you really think it is a totally random coincidence that father STEPHEN GORHAM and son just happened to download child porn under the same roof? But notice that there is no mention of a mother under this roof. Was there one?

INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT.

http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/s/2091792_father_and_son_child_porn_cases_unrelated

Father and son child porn cases 'unrelated'By Pete Castle
April 27, 2011

TEENAGER whose computer contained hundreds of ‘disgusting’ images of child pornography has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Liam Gorham, 18, was sentenced on Friday last week just weeks after his father, Stephen Gorham, a former volunteer police constable, was jailed for eight months after he also admitted downloading child porn from the internet.

Police said that while both men lived at the same flat in Totland Close, Farnborough, and both were caught with indecent images of children on their computers, it appeared that there was no connection between the two offences.

Liam Gorham was only caught because detectives investigating allegations against his father had seized all the computers in the house – including his own personal laptop – and then found images on the hard drive.

The teenager was then arrested and admitted downloading the images.

Police said that as unbelievable as it sounded, the evidence suggested that neither father nor son knew what the other was doing.

Speaking after the court case, detectives from Hampshire police’s specialist high-tech crime unit said the two cases were treated separately.

“We take all cases of this nature very seriously and will conduct thorough investigation as required,” a spokesman for the unit said.

At Liam Gorham’s sentencing on Thursday last week, Winchester Crown Court was told that officers found 1,335 photos and eight videos on his computer. Of the images, 166 were ‘unique’, with the remainder being copies of the same files, found elsewhere on his computer’s internal hard disc drive, the court heard.

Gary Venturi, prosecuting, told judge Andrew Barnett that the images found by police included 27 unique images categorised by police as ‘level four’ on a scale of one to five, with five being the most serious.

When interviewed by police, Gorham had admitted downloading the images but said he had then realised the seriousness of what he had done and tried to ‘distance’ himself from his actions by deleting the files.

However, while invisible to the regular user, the images remained on the computer’s hard disc and were still retrievable, the court heard.

Peter Asteris, defending, said the seriousness of Gorham’s actions had been brought home to him since he and his family had been forced to leave their home in Totland Close and were currently living in temporary accommodation.

“He simply wishes to say he is sorry and it will not happen again,” Mr Asteris said.

Judge Barnett said that the offences Gorham admitted were ‘serious’.

“Anyone who indulges in the downloading of this sort of material – particularly the level four material – will find themselves on the wrong end of a prison sentence because society understandably is concerned as to this sort of exploitation,” the judge said.

“Having said that, your client has no previous convictions, he is young, and it seems to me that if there is to be a prison sentence, it should be suspended.”

Addressing Gorham, Judge Barnett said that he was sure the teenager had downloaded the pictures and movies ‘for reasons of misguided curiosity and sexual gratification’.

“There were quite a number of level four images which are among the most disgusting and which I had the misfortune of reminding myself of this morning,” the judge said.

“You must understand that people who download these images are effectively exploiting the people who get involved in the making of those images.”

Sentencing him to four months in prison, suspended for a year, the judge told Gorham he believed he had ‘learnt his lesson’.

“For that year it will hang over your head and if you are stupid enough to commit any other offence you will be brought back here and will go to prison for that period,” he said.

“I hope that you will put this matter behind you having learnt your lesson. You have the support of your mother, whose letter I took into consideration and the others I have read here.”

The judge also ordered that Gorham’s laptop computer containing the illegal images should be destroyed and told him he would have to sign onto the sex offenders’ register for five years.