Repeat sex offender downloaded dozens of sickening child abuse images.

Repeat Sex Offender Jailed for Downloading Child Abuse Images

A repeat sex offender from Kendal, Robert Lewthwaite, 29, has been jailed after downloading dozens of sickening child abuse images, including some featuring victims as young as three.

Lewthwaite, who had previously received professional help through the Probation Service, admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order and downloading almost 300 indecent images of children. Of these, 58 were classified as Category A, the most serious kind of abuse images.

At Carlisle Crown Court, Judge Nicholas Barker stated: "These are not victimless crimes: these images depict real children, as young as three or four and five or six, who were subjected to the most horrendous, gratuitous sexual abuse. The demand for such images by people like Lewthwaite supported the activities of the abusers who created those images."

Prosecutor Brendan Burke outlined that Lewthwaite had been given a seven-year sexual harm prevention order in February 2019, designed to curb his internet use and prevent reoffending. This was part of his sentence for similar offending, where he had downloaded hundreds of child abuse images.

Lewthwaite was specifically warned against using cloud storage facilities, but on January 14, police discovered he had accessed three cloud storage sites, deleting content from his internet history and devices. They eventually recovered the images he had been viewing: 58 Category A, 96 Category B, and 128 Category C.

Jeff Smith, defending Lewthwaite, stated that the defendant suffered from autism, leading to isolation and difficulty forming relationships. He is isolated from the vast majority of his family, other than his grandfather, and desperately clings to those close to him.

Smith emphasized the need for professional support for Lewthwaite to turn his life around, acknowledging his failings and desire for change. He suggested group therapy would be beneficial, as Lewthwaite did not want to return to the depths of depravity.

Judge Barker sentenced Lewthwaite to 18 months in prison, concluding that he had returned to his former offending behaviour, described as a highly established pattern. While accepting Lewthwaite's autism-related difficulties, the judge emphasized the pattern of offending and the lack of a realistic prospect of rehabilitation at present.

Lewthwaite will be on the Sex Offender Register for a decade and his sexual harm prevention order will remain in place for the same period.