A paedophile who downloaded over a third of a million indecent images of children has walked free from court.
Ralph Harrington, 58, trawled the web for sickening photos and videos of children and did so for at least eight years before his crimes were uncovered, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Rob Galley said that Harrington, from York, downloaded about 362,560 sexual images of children.
The vast majority – just under 356,000 – were Category C images, but there were also 2,734 rated Category A, the worst kind of such material featuring the sexual abuse of children.
Mr Galley said that some of the vile photos and movie clips featured children as young as four.
Married Harrington, who has a track record for similar behaviour, was arrested after police swooped on his home in October 2021 following intelligence that he had been searching the internet for indecent images.
Police seized four computer devices for forensic analysis which showed that Harrington had also downloaded 3,829 Category B images. In total, he had downloaded more than a third of a million illicit images dating back to at least February 2013.
Forensic analysts also found text documents on the devices, including a laptop, which betrayed Harrington’s sexual interest in children.
Harrington, of Farndale Street, was charged with three counts of making indecent images and admitted the offences. He appeared for sentence yesterday (Tuesday).
The court heard that Harrington had a previous conviction for making indecent images which resulted in a three-year community order and a place on the sex-offenders’ register in 2003, but just a few years into the order it was revoked because he was deemed to have made “good progress” in his rehabilitation.
‘There was a relapse’
His solicitor advocate Kevin Blount said that Harrington now accepted he had a sexual interest in children and needed help with this.
He said that Harrington had worked with the Probation Service after his previous conviction and seemed to be purging himself of his habit, “but there was a relapse”.
Recorder Thomas Moran told Harrington: “It must have been hoped that (the previous community order) had been effective and you had put this behaviour behind you. It’s clear from the search of your address that that is still not the case.
“It’s obvious to everybody that that you do have an entrenched interest in children.”
However, he said that despite the “massive” number of indecent images found on Harrington’s devices, it was now nearly three years since his arrest, he was in self-employed work and immediate imprisonment would affect his wife.
Mr Morgan also noted Harrington’s “response to previous supervision had been good” and that he had now “taken an important step towards avoiding reoffending by admitting what is obvious to anybody else: that you do have a sexual interest in children”.
He said he was confident that Harrington would comply with another community-based order and therefore it was preferable that he be rehabilitated outside the prison environment.
Harrington was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for ten years. He was also made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order, which is designed to curb his online activities and will also run for 10 years.
He was also ordered to complete a 35-day rehabilitation programme.