Former West Midlands Police Constable Escapes Jail for Child Pornography

A former West Midlands Police constable and ex-serviceman, James Duffield, has avoided jail time for possessing sickening child pornography films. Duffield, a father of two from Solihull, admitted to downloading 106 indecent images of children as young as four on his laptop.

The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images and was handed a 12-month suspended sentence.

Prosecutor Philip Brunt told Birmingham Crown Court that police received information about an IP address downloading indecent images, leading to a warrant being issued to search Duffield's residence in August 2015.

"They recovered a large number of internet-enabled devices, particularly two laptop computers," Mr. Brunt said. "It was on these laptops that the indecent images were found. There was also evidence of search terms like 'Paedo Mum' on the computers."

Duffield, who resigned from the police force before sentencing, initially claimed he downloaded films and other items but denied knowing the content was indecent. However, he later confessed to the crimes.

"He commented in that interview that he himself had been abused as a child, which contributed, in part, to his accessing the images," Mr. Brunt explained. "He made revelations that were investigated by the local police force, but the investigation led nowhere."

The ages of the children depicted in the images ranged from four to ten years old, with the longest video being 17 minutes long.

Judge Simon Drew QC, while acknowledging Duffield's past service in the military and police, emphasized the severity of the crimes.

"The real gravamen of these offences is not your conduct but the impact on those who appear in those images," Judge Drew stated.

Despite the seriousness of the offenses, the judge concluded that the future risk posed by Duffield was relatively low.

Defense attorney Adrian Keeling QC argued that Duffield had been abused as a child and had not received any support or assistance due to his silence at the time.

"He made no complaint at the time and therefore received no help or assistance," Mr. Keeling said. "The first time he came across any of these images was on file sharing software, and it chimed with what happened to him."

Mr. Keeling also highlighted the significant punishment Duffield had already faced, including the loss of his reputation and career, which had placed financial strain on his family.