A SOUTH Cumbrian man has been given a suspended jail term after police discovered he had downloaded child abuse images.

Carl McCracken, 51, appeared before Carlisle Crown Court for five counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, three charges of downloading indecent child images, and two allegations of failing to comply with sex offenders register conditions.

He admitted all the charges.

Prosecutor Peter Wilson said the offending came to light after police searched the defendant’s home at Milnthorpe and seized various devices.

A forensic examination of those items revealed that McCracken had downloaded 17 indecent child images, four of which were deemed to be Category A, the most serious kind.

Five were Category B, and there were eight Category C images.

McCracken breached his existing sexual harm prevention order in a number of ways – by deleting his internet browsing history, by using the applications Snapchat and Tiktok, and by using a cloud storage facility.

The images were downloaded between May 30, 2020, and August 31.

Gerard Rogerson, defending, said the defendant’s devices were originally seized by the police on June 28 and “briefly examined.”

After this, McCracken was charged with relevant offences and given a suspended jail term at a hearing before the crown court on October 10. Police meanwhile continued their investigation of the devices.

What they found – including the indecent child images – led to the new charges that were now before the court.

“That is at best unfortunate, and at worse cruel,” said Mr Rogerson. The barrister said McCracken knew he was at risk of a jail term but, after retaining his freedom, he once again faced possible custody.

Mr Rogerson said McCracken had “grasped with both hands” the rehabilitation that he was offered through the suspended jail term and the work he had begun doing with the Probation Service.

The new prosecution threatened to “pull the rug from under the progress” he had already made, said the lawyer.

McCracken had completed 25 hours of unpaid work and was keen to understand the issues that underlie his offending through an accredited programme.

Mr Rogerson said probation staff had expressed the view that the risk posed by McCracken was manageable in the community.

Judge Nicholas Barker told McCracken, of Bela Avenue, Milnthorpe: “It is undoubtedly the case that earlier this year you were flagrantly disregarding the requirements of your order and the Sex Offender Register.

“It is also apparent you had downloaded indecent images [of children].” He admitted the new offences after being sentenced last month to a suspended eight month jail term.

Judge Barker commented that the police “should have been aware” that the new offences were in the system so all matters could have been dealt with during one court hearing. He said this showed a “lack of efficiency” by the police.

But, accepting that there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, and that a jail term would undermine the rehabilitation work already done by McCracken, the judge opted for a second suspended sentence.

He imposed 12 months jail, suspended for two years. The defendant will be on the Sex Offender Register for ten years and he will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.