Paedophile continued to download sick material despite a previous conviction for doing the same thing.

Convicted Paedophile Sentenced for Downloading Child Abuse Images

A convicted paedophile has been sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of downloading indecent images of children for the second time.

Thomas Hammersley, 28, of Park Lane in Camborne, appeared at Truro Crown Court where he was sentenced for three counts of making indecent images of children. The court heard that police raided Hammersley's home in July 2020 following a tip-off from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The NCA suspected that Hammersley's IP address and email were being used to upload child abuse images to a file-sharing platform. Police seized several devices belonging to Hammersley, who was already a registered sex offender, and found them to contain a large number of indecent images.

In total, Hammersley had 107 Category A images and one movie, 48 Category B images, and 81 Category C images. Many of these images were inaccessible, but the material had been accessed over a two-year period. The victims depicted in the images were said to be aged between six and 12.

Hammersley initially denied the offences but later admitted to downloading the images. He blamed his actions on drug use, claiming that he would download the images while under the influence of drugs and then delete them when he sobered up.

However, Judge Simon Carr rejected Hammersley's claim, stating that it was an "excuse without foundation" and that he downloaded the images because he had a "sexual interest in children."

Hammersley's attempt to have his identity withheld from the media was unsuccessful. While Judge Carr sympathized with Hammersley's family, he ruled that the application went against the principle of open justice.

This was not Hammersley's first conviction for downloading child abuse images. In 2015, he was convicted of identical offences and given a suspended sentence. He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

Judge Carr said that Hammersley had been given a chance to address his offending in 2015 but had failed to do so. He sentenced Hammersley to two years in prison, noting the significant period over which the images were downloaded and the young age of the victims.