Paedophile IT manager sentenced for sex image haul

Don Leitch was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court

A paedophile who collected dozens of indecent images of children, including of victims as young as five, has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Don Leitch, a 54-year-old IT manager, used online chat forums to exchange messages and discuss fantasies with other paedophiles, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Judge Advocate Edward Legard said "high vulnerable" children were "exploited or abused" to "purely feed the sexual gratification" of paedophiles like Leitch.

Leitch, from Alnwick, Northumberland, was jailed for 10 months, suspended for two years, after admitting three counts of possessing indecent images of children.

He was also sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work.

Police found 65 photographs and videos in the most serious category and about 50 other illegal child images, as well as 400 so-called borderline pictures, when they went to his home on 22 May 2023, the court heard.

They had been downloaded between October 2011 and May 2023 and featured children aged between five and 15 years old, the court heard.

'Not victimless crimes'

Hundreds of search terms related to child abuse were also found on his devices, including his search history and online chat forums.

Leitch, of Merchants Gardens, had previously been cautioned for possessing indecent images of children in 2008 and had a conviction for drink-driving, the court heard.

In mitigation, Leitch was said to be ashamed and genuinely remorseful, with his offending committed while working away from home and feeling lonely and depressed in hotels.

Judge Legard said Leitch and paedophiles like him were responsible for "creating the market" for the "highly offensive and damaging" images, adding the lives of the children being abused were often "permanently scarred".

He told Leitch: "These are not victimless crimes, far from it.

"Those who appear in these images are often young, highly vulnerable children recruited from impoverished backgrounds who are then forced into performing degrading sexual acts or exploited or abused by others purely to feed the sexual gratification of people like you."

The judge said Leith's immediate imprisonment would be "merited" but more rehabilitation work could be done with him if he was given a suspended sentence rather than simply being jailed for what would be quite a short period.

Leitch was also made subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and must sign the sex offender register for a decade.