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Pervert jailed for having indecent pictures of boys has jail term cut

A man jailed for a year after police found a stash of indecent images of children imported from Canada has been set free by top judges.

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But Keith Moxham, aged 62, from Birmingham, must now take part in a sex offender treatment programme as a condition of his release.

The divorced father-of-two, who worked in the motor industry in the West Midlands, had never been in trouble before.

But police swooped on his home in Longleat Avenue, in December 2014, Mr Justice William Davis told London's Appeal Court.

Officers had been tipped off by their Canadian counterparts that he had been sold DVDs by a supplier there.

They found 25 DVDs featuring indecent images of boys aged nine to 15.

The lads were 'naked or somewhat naked' but there was 'no overt sexual activity' involved. On a memory stick and computer, there were around 3,600 images found, which Moxham had downloaded from the website of the Canadian supplier.

Among them were a 'limited' number of the seriously obscene images, featuring boys with 'hands tied and/or gags in their mouth', said the judge.

Moxham admitted two counts of making indecent photographs of children and one of possessing indecent images of a child.

He was jailed for 12 months at Birmingham Crown Court on November 24 last year.

A 15-year sexual harm prevention order – SHPO – was also imposed.

Moxham's lawyers argued his jail term was far too tough and that the SHPO was also too long. They said he should have got a community order involving a treatment programme.

Mr Justice Davis agreed there was 'no basis' for such a long jail term.

The most serious images found 'were not sadistic as they sadly so often are in these cases', added the judge.

He said the sentence should 'not have exceeded six months' which Moxham would have already served.

But he said it was in the interest of 'public protection' to replace his jail term with a three-year community order, including a sex offender treatment programme.

The judge, who was sitting with Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Judge David Stockdale QC, reduced the 'wrong in principle' SHPO from 15 years to five years.

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