A teenage boy from Warrington downloaded sickening images of child sex abuse and chatted online with other perverts, a court heard.
Kai Lovesy was 16 when he began his seedy behaviour and 17 when he stopped as police discovered when they raided his home in July 2022 and arrested him.
It was found that the images had been downloaded on his iPhone between August 2021 and June 2022, said Chris Taylor, prosecuting at Liverpool Crown Court.
These involve seven Category A videos, three in the next category and two in the lowest group. He also had 15 extreme porn images and one video, showing bestiality and 11 prohibited images.
Chats were recovered on applications including Telegram showing no interest in child porn, extreme porn and the Dark Web.
“He had an onion router which was intended to restrict examination of access to the Dark Web,” said Mr Taylor, adding that was where such images were traded.
There was no evidence of distribution and none of the images were live and readily accessible. The children depicted were aged between four to 14, he added. “He would have required specialised software to re-access them.”
When interviewed Lovesy said he had an American friend who sent him pictures and videos to send to another friend. ‘He said he had no sexual interest in children.”
Emily Calman, defending, told Liverpool Crown Court that Lovesy had pleaded guilty at the earlier opportunity.
He has undiagnosed mental health problems and had been living an isolated life. He looks after his father who has health problems and he wants to get back to education, she said.
Lovesy, now 19, from Culcheth, pleaded guilty to six charges involving possessing and making indecent images, possessing extreme porn and prohibited images.
The judge, Recorder Mark Ainsworth ordered him to carry out 25 days rehabilitation activities and 150 hours unpaid work. He also has to attend the ihorizon probation course and sign on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.
Recorder Ainsworth also made a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same length of time.
“The assumption has to be made that if there was no demand for these photographs this abuse would not take place,” he said.
