A Catterick Village man has been placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years after he was convicted of making indecent images of children.
Carl Kinsley, 37, appeared for sentence at York Crown Court on Friday after a jury found him guilty of one count of making eight indecent images of minors following a trial in May.
Prosecutor Kelly Clarke said that Kinsley made the Category C images in April or May 2022.
In January 2023, a detective constable went to his home in Catterick Village “following information that indecent images had been accessed on the internet” at his address.
He was arrested, had his iPhone seized and was taken into police custody, but denied the offence.
A police digital forensic officer said she had found the images in the picture gallery of Kinsley’s phone and that they had been transferred from an old Apple device via the iCloud back-up service.
The officer told the jury that when Kinsley obtained a new Apple iPhone in 2022, the data from the old device would have been transferred to the new device via the iCloud.
She said that as well as the illicit photos, she also found an indecent video on Kinsley’s phone which appeared to have been “created” in May 2019.
Kinsley’s denial meant that the prosecution had to prove that the old device from which the indecent images had been transferred belonged to Kinsley.
In early May, on the second day of the trial, the jury found Kinsley guilty as charged.
Ms Clarke said that Kinsley, of High Street, had never offended before but had past police cautions for battery and two public-order offences.
Michele Turner, Kinsley’s solicitor advocate, said that the Catterick man had made or downloaded the indecent images after becoming “isolated” during the Covid lockdown.
That was the “catalyst for (Kinsley) being completely shut out of all communications” at a time when his drinking became a problem, she added.
She said that Kinsley had also been taking cocaine “which appeared to have been escalating over a period of time”.
She added that Kinsley, who was a father, worked as a bricklayer on £1,000 per week before tax.
Judge Sean Morris said that for sentencing purposes, making or downloading indecent photos should be treated as possessing illicit images.
He gave Kinsley a 12-month community order with 15 rehabilitation-activity days and a six-month drug-treatment programme.
He warned Kinsley: “If you breach the order I will lock you up and you will not have a nice time in prison.”
Kinsley was ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register for five years during which time he will have to notify police of any change in his circumstances or whereabouts.
He was also made subject to a five-year sexual-harm-prevention order to curb his online activities.
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