A man who was suspected of trying to groom children through the YouTube video sharing website has been spared prison after police found that he had a hoard of child pornography.
Dominic Cornelius, 29, was arrested in Vale Avenue, Patcham, and left the country while under investigation.
But this week Cornelius was given a suspended prison sentence by a judge in Brighton for three counts of having thousands of indecent images of children.
Among the pictures were 144 “category A” images which were the most serious type, Brighton Crown Court was told.
Sussex Police said: “Cornelius was caught after police attended an address in Vale Avenue, Brighton, after receiving intelligence that a person using an IP address linked to the property had been accessing the internet and, through YouTube, had been engaging in illicit conversations with children.
“A search of the property found a number of electronic devices, one of which contained indecent images of children – 144 category A, 502 category B and 2,273 category C.
“Cornelius left the UK while under investigation and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
“He was arrested upon returning to the UK on Monday 19 September, charged with three counts of making indecent images of children and remanded in custody.”
Cornelius was sentenced by Ms Recorder Patricia Hitchcock at Brighton Crown Court on Monday (24 October).
She imposed a prison sentence of six months, suspended for 24 months, for “making an indecent photograph of a child” after he was found to have 144 category A images.
Cornelius was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, attend 15 days of rehabilitation activity and 52 sessions of the iHorizon programme for online sex offenders.
He was also sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for 24 months, and to be served concurrently, for having 502 category B images.
And he was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 24 months, and to be served concurrently, for having 2,273 category C images.
Cornelius was ordered to pay £425 towards the cost of the prosecution and a victim surcharge of £115, making £540 in total.
He was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) for five years and ordered to register as a sex offender for seven years.
Ms Recorder Hitchcock ordered the forfeiture and destruction of an Apple Mac laptop and iPhone belonging to Cornelius.
There is no such thing as Child P…
They are images and footage of child sexual abuse – rape. No child can consent.
Instead of the laptop and being destroyed, surely they could have been cleared of everything related to Cornelius, restored to their factory condition, and then given to charity. What a waste!