A 35-year-old who was caught with various illegal images of children and extreme animal pornography has avoided jail.
George Ennis, of Lynn Road in St Germans, was handed 34 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, when he appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years, having previously pleaded guilty to an array of offences.
They included possession of four Class A incident photographs of a child - the most serious - eight category B images, and one Category C image.
He was also found with an extreme pornographic image of a person engaging in oral sex with a dog.
His case had been adjourned from February 29 in order for the probation service to carry out a pre-sentence report.
On Thursday, the court heard that on September 29, 2022, the police received information about the images being accessed on the Kik application.
They traced an email address connected to an account to Ennis’ home, and seized his devices before sending them off for analysis.
Throughout two subsequent police interviews, Ennis made no comment.
Mitigating on Thursday, solicitor Andrew Cogan said: “The pre-sentence report clearly shows that Mr Ennis has shown remorse, and perhaps the most important thing is that he has pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
“While of course he was found in possession of these items, it is relevant that what he has actually been found in possession of is the thumbnails of the images, and not the images themselves.
“If he had deleted the thumbnails at the same time as the images, then it is unlikely the police would have found anything.”
Mr Cogan also told the court that Ennis is suffering difficulties due to having a slipped disc in his back, and made clear that he was a man of previous good character.
He added: “This is a one-off. He is charged in 2022, and here we are in the middle of 2024.
“So it has been a significant period where, if Mr Ennis was really inclined to download this sort of material, the police would have found it.”
Magistrates handed Ennis 26 weeks in prison for possession of the Category A photographs of children and eight weeks for the animal pornography, with both sentences to run consecutively.
They then handed him eight additional weeks for each of the Category B and C images, with those terms to run concurrently.
All were suspended for the two-year period.
Ennis will also complete up to 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement sessions with the probation service, while he will pay court costs of £85 and a £187 victim surcharge.