A shocked wife reported her husband to the police after finding a memory card with scores of child rape movies and photos.
Peter Loram had left an SD card in a card reader on the desk of his office in Bridford which was found by his wife. She was curious to see what was on it and found the hoard of images.
She alerted the police who found 240 movies and 204 pictures which he had downloaded from the Dark Web. Company director Loram separated from his wife after the discovery and has now changed his surname to Lowe, Exeter Crown Court was told. The images were of children aged between two and 15 and most were in the worst category which depicts children suffering penetrative abuse by adults.
Lowe, previously known as Loram, aged 39, and now of no fixed address, admitted three counts of making (by downloading) indecent images of children. He was jailed for nine months, suspended for two years and ordered to undertake a sex offenders treatment course during 30 days of rehabilitation activities. He was put on the sex offenders register and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for ten years by Judge David Evans. The order allows the police to monitor his online activity.
The judge told him: 'You were arrested after your then partner, who is no longer your partner, came across an SD card in your office. She was shocked to discover what was on that storage device. 'There were photographs and videos depicting the sexual exploitation and abuse of children, often very young children, by adults,' the judge added. 'An examination of your laptop's browsing history was consistent with you having searched for and downloaded this imagery.'
Mr Tom Bradnock, prosecuting, said Loram's wife found the images on May 7, 2020 and alerted the police. Officers recovered 444 items from a Sandisk SD memory card. These included 171 movies and 84 stills which were categorised as category A because they showed serious child abuse. Mr Bradnock said: 'His wife was searching for a card reader in his office at their home in Bridford and found it in a box on his desk. 'She saw a card in it and was curious about what it was and put it into the computer and opened what transpired to be a number of files. 'She was sickened and shocked and called the police, who undertook a search and seized a number of devices.
In his second interview he gave a full account and said he was addicted to pornography and his interests became more extreme overtime. 'He said he started searching for images about five years earlier and downloaded material from the Dark Web.' Mr Ryan O'Donnell said the defendant is truly remorseful and has used the long gap since his arrest to undertake private treatment. He has been assessed as suitable for rehabilitation by the probation service.
