Prison for man who viewed indecent images of children over 17-year period

Friday 30 June 2023

A 58-year-old man has been jailed for two years for downloading more than 1,000 indecent images of children, with his offences dating back to 2005.

The youngest child in the indecent images found on Patrick Joseph Huard’s computer was just three years old, the Royal Court heard on Friday.

Huard downloaded the images on five separate devices, with more than 100 indecent images being ranked as Category A – the most serious, 148 images classed as Category B and 1,015 images being classified as Category C.

Crown Advocate Luke Sette, prosecuting, explained that when the police searched Huard’s home address on 30 September last year, they found a total of 1,271 indecent images of children aged under 16 years old on his computers.

The Crown Advocate said that Huard initially told police officers during an interview that "he’d click away and find things he shouldn’t find".

"Mr Huard said that he viewed the images out of disbelief and curiosity," said Advocate Sette.

But when Huard appeared at the Magistrate’s Court in May, he entered guilty pleas to all charges.

Advocate James Bell, defending, said: "He really is ashamed of his actions. He offers his sincere apologies to the Court. He’s still trying to make sense of what he’s done."

There were "significant gaps" between Huard looking at the indecent images between 2005 and 2022, and the offending was "sporadic", according to Advocate Bell.

He added that Huard had suffered with his mental and physical health, and claimed that "the poor choices he made were to alleviate his mind".

Advocate Bell also said that his client was of previous good character.

Huard was jailed for three counts of making indecent images of children.

The Bailiff, Sir Timothy Le Cocq, was presiding.

Speaking following the sentencing, Detective Constable Daniel Grigoras, from the Criminal Investigation Department, said: "These are not victimless crimes, these sorts of images cause real harm to real children and the viewing and making of indecent images like these creates demand and so leads to further abuse.

"We won’t tolerate any form of abuse against children and the States of Jersey Police are committed to target those who offend in this way."