A TIDWORTH man has avoided an immediate prison sentence after he was found with more than 1,300 indecent images of children.

On March 14, 2020, devices were taken away from Liam Shearer, of Nepal Road, after police intelligence discovered that he had been accessing indecent images.

During an interview with police, he denied any knowledge about the pictures and was “adamant that the intelligence was wrong”.

When asked to provide the pin number for his phone the 25-year-old cited GDPR reasons and refused to provide the code.

He continued to deny having any sexual interest in children or grooming behaviour.

Officers eventually managed to access a Samsung phone belonging to Shearer, in which indecent images were found on Whatsapp, Dropbox and an app called Mega – which allows users to exchange images.

Speaking at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, November 18, prosecutor John Lloyd-Richards said: “There were various chats found on there which referred to these things called links.” Mr Lloyd-Richards said they disclosed images of sexual abuse of children.

“There was a further interview allowing the defendant to respond to the images that were found. He gave no comment to questions.”

During an earlier hearing at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court, Shearer pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. He had 271 Category A images – the worst kind - 240 Category B and 831 Category C.

Judge Richard Parkes KC said that within the images presented to him as evidence the youngest child was two with the oldest around 12.

In mitigation, Alexandra Chessum said Shearer had a “troubled childhood” and moved out of his family home due to violence before moving in with an older man who “proceeded to effectively groom him and exploit him”.

At the age of 14, Shearer was convicted of inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13.

Ms Chessum said that Shearer ended up sofa surfing after an attempt for him to move in with his maternal aunt led to ‘tension’ in the family.

In sentencing, Judge Parkes spoke of the children in the images saying: “What does emerge is the blankness of their expressions”.

Shearer was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for 24 months. He must complete 120 hours unpaid work, up to 30 rehabilitation days and the Horizon sex offenders’ treatment programme.

He is also subject to a sexual harm prevention order and notification requirements for 10 years.