Indecent pictures of children left on Basingstoke train
A man has been sentenced
A 38-year-old man has been sentenced for possessing indecent images of children after leaving the print outs on trains.
Steve Blackthorne, of Brendoncare, Winchester, Hampshire, pleaded guilty to the making and distribution of indecent photographs / pseudo-photographs of a child.
Following a British Transport Police investigation he was sentenced to two years in jail suspended for two years at Winchester Crown Court on Tuesday July 9.
He was also issued with a 10 year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
He must complete 150 of unpaid work and pay £650 costs.
The Case
The court heard how on Sunday January 23 2022, a train guard was handed six pages of A4 sheets by a passenger who had found them left behind by a man who departed the service at Basingstoke.
The pages contained horrific indecent graphic images of children: 16 Category A (the most severe), five Category B and 16 Category C.
The images left the guard in tears and he alerted British Transport Police who met the train at Southampton station.
Just a few days later on Monday 31 January, a member of cleaning crew discovered a further batch of images when he pulled down a folding table. Horrified and upset by what the pages contained he immediately reported it to his manager who in turn called British Transport Police.
The six pages again contained 16 Category A, five Category B and 16 Category C indecent images of children.
A CCTV search identified Blackthorne as the passenger who had left behind the print outs.
On Monday 14 March officers swooped on Blackthorne at Basingstoke station and arrested him. A search of his mobile phone found 60 Category A, 27 Category B and 81 Category C images.
A laptop he was carrying was also seized and upon examination was found to contain two Category A and three Category C images.
A search of his home address produced another laptop which held a further 10 Category A images.
In police interview he admitted printing the images out at work from a work computer.
Depravity
Investigating officer DC Phil James said:
“Such was the level of Blackthorne’s depravity that the images he had collated left those who inadvertently happened upon them deeply traumatised.
“No one in their right mind would ever willingly choose to see these sickening images.
“Blackthorne showed no shame in his perversion even transferring the images to a work computer so he could print them out at work to look at at his leisure.”