Man with over 45,000 indecent images of children jailed for seven years

Monday 23 July 2018

A 42-year-old man has been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment by the Royal Court after he was found with more than 45,000 indecent images of children, in what the Court described as one of the most serious cases it had ever seen.

In 2012, Jeremy Thomas Bourke had been sentenced to three years in prison by the Royal Court after nearly 15,000 indecent images of children, including films, were found on his computer.

At the time, the Court imposed restraining orders forcing Bourke to surrender to the police any electronic devices he used to access the internet. The orders also prevented Bourke from using any device that did not store the history of his internet use. 

Bourke was released from prison in June 2014. The Court heard that on 11 September 2017, officers from the Offender Management Unit came to his home to check his electronic devices. They found references to websites aimed at paedophiles, and of hentai (“perverse sexual desire” in Japanese) in the search history.

During a sex offender risk management assessment, Bourke admitted he had been watching a lot of porn and that he feared he might reoffend if he continued. He also admitted he had watched child anime porn, but that he stopped after learning it was an offence in the UK.

After the meeting, officers returned to Bourke’s home and seized all his electronic devices, two computers, a USB stick and a Playstation. A total of 3,556 indecent images of children were found as well as 33 documents containing stories of sexual encounters with children. Five of them featured a character called "Jeremy" or "Jeremy Bourke."

Officers also found an internet browser that enables anonymous communication and access to websites hosted on the dark web, without retaining any history.

Pictured: Bourke used a software to access websites hosted on the dark web.

They discovered that Bourke had been using a hard drive which hadn’t been seized, although he had told officers they had all his electronic devices. Bourke later admitted the hard drive was in his attic and that he had breached his restraining order by not surrendering it to officers. He said he had had it since before his previous conviction but that he didn’t give it up as he was worried over how many indecent images it contained.

Over 42,000 were found on the device along with guides and manuals on the subject of sex with underage girls. 

During the second search of Bourke's home, officers also found a number of handwritten stories relating to sexual activities with children - Bourke said he had written the stories as a way of coping with not having access to images after the police seized his devices.

In interview Bourke admitted he had sexual interest for pre-pubescent girls and that he searched for indecent images for “sexual gratification.” Bourke said he had downloaded those guides “out of curiosity.” 

Bourke told a probation officer that he hadn't looked at children pornography for 18 months after his release but that temptation returned. After that, he started looking at pornography and then idecent images on a daily basis.

Pictured: Bourke's case was described as one of the most serious cases of indecent images of children to come before Court.

Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit said Bourke's case was one of the most serious case of indecent images to come before Court. He described Bourke as a "sophisticated computer user", adding that the guides found on his computer gave "a worrying insight into his sexual fantasies."

He stated that Bourke posed a serious risk of harm and moved for a total sentence of seven years.

Advocate Natalie Addis, defending, admitted there was very little mitigation available to Bourke. She said Bourke accepted his wrongdoing and had reflected on his offending behaviour while in custody. "He now understands the importance of complying fully," she added.

 She noted that Bourke had not distributed any of the images he had in his possession. She also told Court that Bourke maintained he had never been in contact with children and that he would never commit such an offence. 

Royal Court Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, sitting with Jurats Pamela Pitman, Jane Ronge, Geoffrey Grime, Jerry Ramsden and Rozanne Thomas, also described Bourke's case as one of the most serious cases. He said Bourke's case was aggravated by the high volume of images he had amassed, his previous conviction, the fact he had kept the hard drive for eight to 10 years, his attempts to conceal evidence and the sexualised stories that had been recovered.

He said that the guides found on his devices, illustrated by images, had been distressing material for the Crown services to come across. He added that possessing indecent images of children was not a victimless crime as the children pictured in the images were actually abused.

He sentenced Bourke to seven years in prison and imposed a 15 year restraining order. In addition, Bourke will also appear on the Sex Offenders Register for 15 years.

Following the sentencing, the Police, who monitor and manage registered sex offenders to ensure that they are complying with their notification requirements and restrictive orders, said it showed the serious and horrible nature of these crimes.