A FORMER probationary policeman downloaded pictures of naked children from an American pornography site after plunging into depression over the death of his father.
Simon Dagger (pictured), of Lime Tree Avenue, Pontefract, was snared by police in a crackdown on the Internet child pornographic industry known as Operation Ore.
Appearing at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday, the 24-year-old wept when he was told he would not be jailed for having around 45 indecent images of children stored on his computer.
The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Norman Jones QC, said he had come to the conclusion that it would be "heartless" to send him to prison and was satisfied he downloaded the images as a result of his depressive illness.
He imposed a three-year Community Rehabilitation Order with a condition of attendance on a sex-offender treatment programme.
Nicholas Barker, prosecuting, told the court that Dagger accessed the images from an American-based Internet company called Landslide in July 1999, before joining the West Yorkshire Police Force.
Of some 8,000 images stored on the computer a vast majority were of legal adult material with only a handful of pseudo images involving children falling into the most serious category.
Dagger, who resigned from his job following his arrest in November last year, admitted five sample charges of possessing indecent images of children and was ordered to sign the sex-offender register for five years.
James Keeley, mitigating, said that a psychiatric assessment showed at the time Dagger was suffering from a mental illness triggered by the death of his father and had subsequently become obsessed with downloading pictures.
"He bought the computer after the death of his dad and in a short time this became a compulsion to him," he explained.
"He is adamant that he didn't get any sexual gratification from these images and it was his curiosity which spiralled out of control.
"As a result this man's life is in tatters. He has suffered embarrassment and has had to resign from job he loved."
Judge Jones added: "You don't demonstrate any paedophilic tendencies and I am satisfied you only got involved in this as a result of your mental illness and circumstances at the time."
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