Express & Star

Pervert used camera in a shoebox to film a child

A 35-year-old man who used a hidden camera to film a child, and downloaded and shared hundreds of indecent images of children, has been jailed for 42 months.

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Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how Paul Mann, from Cradley Heath, was employed and had no previous convictions, but after being introduced to a file sharing website to download music he began searching for indecent material.

Mann also used a camera hidden in a shoebox to film a child, and on two occasions 'manoeuvred' his victim for the purpose of obtaining footage, the court was told.

Prosecutor Mr Christopher O'Gorman outlined how on November 3, 2015, police officers from the child sexual exploitation team carried out a raid at the defendant's home on Woodhouse Way after being alerted to his internet use.

Mr O'Gorman said during the search officers found two laptops and a memory stick, with the majority of the indecent material discovered on one laptop hidden in a bedroom wardrobe.

A total of 317 indecent photos and movies, including seven Mann had recorded himself, were discovered.

Mann was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual assault against a child, two counts relating to the production of indecent images of a child, three counts relating to downloading indecent images of children, and three counts of distribution of such material.

Officers also found 48 cannabis plants in a garage at the back of the property, and 20 in the loft, along with lighting and heating equipment, which Mann claimed he had been asked to store for a friend while his house was on the market, the court was told.

Mr O'Gorman told the court how around £7,000 in cash was seized from a biscuit tin, which Mann said was from the sale of a motorbike and a car. The money will be subject to the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Mann also pleaded guilty to permitting his property to be used for the production of a controlled drug, and also for illegally abstracting electricity. For these two offences he received two-month jail terms, to run concurrently with the other sentences.

Defending, Mr Stephen Bailey, said that Mann had started using the file sharing website for music, but added: "Curiosity got the better of him. It went to the back of his mind that people could access the files, in the same way that he could access other people's. He said he was not seeking to send material himself."

Mann will serve half of his 42-month sentence in custody.

For the next five years he is subject to a sexual harm prevention order and must remain on the sexual offenders' register for life.

Miss Recorder Abigail Nixon said: "Without perverted men like you, children would not be abused."

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