Southampton pervert had indecent images of children

Babies as young as a few months old were among the images downloaded by "addicted" Darren Elston.

The 33-year-old viewed the videos and images over a four-year period, gradually building his collection.

Southampton Crown Court heard how officers raided his home and seized his devices.

Prosecuting, Rachel Standish said he had 1,746 category A images – the most serious – and 1,135 category B images.

A total of 2,022 category C images were also identified, along with 59 prohibited images of a child and 67 extreme images involving children and animals.

Vile pervert Darren Elston had a stash of thousands of indecent images of babies and children on his phone (Image: Newsquest) “A further 12,680 images were found but they were unable to be graded by officers,” Ms Standish said.

“An officer who works in the child abuse investigation team said that in his three and a half years in the role, this was one of the most challenging cases they dealt with.

“The defendant used search terms to find the images and downloaded them, with children in the images aged from a few months old, in nappies, to 14 years old.”

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The court heard Elston made full admissions during his interview with police.

He told officers he was “addicted to child pornography since Covid” and said his drinking of alcohol was a factor in his offending.  

Mitigating, Stephen Tricker said his “best point” to raise in mitigation was that Elston pleaded guilty to the five charges against him.

He added: “He clearly has mental health issues, and he had an extremely terrible childhood.”

Elston, of Tunstall Road, Southampton, admitted three charges of making indecent images of children, possessing a prohibited image of a child, and possessing extreme pornographic images.

Judge Nigel Peters KC described the images as “vile material” when passing sentence.

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He said: “It is a vile and extremely unhealthy pastime because if it wasn’t for people like yourself, these things would not be produced.

“You have got to steer clear of this vice, downloading vile material. This is your one and only chance.”

Judge Peters cited Elston’s health issues and lack of previous convictions as reasons for giving him a suspended sentence.

He was handed a one-year sentence suspended for 18 months and must carry out 40 rehabilitation activity days.