Jonathan Meadows, a Sketty paedophile, was granted a “significant chance” with a suspended sentence after being apprehended with child abuse photographs, but subsequently reoffended, a judge has reported.
During a routine house visit, Jonathan Meadows’ offender management observed him utilising a social media application under an alias, prompting an investigation of his gadgets that revealed around 100 indecent photographs, as well as illegal and extreme pornography.
Swansea Crown Court was informed that the smallest children depicted in the photos were believed by law enforcement to be between six and twelve months old. The judge informed the defendant that the images he had downloaded depicted actual children globally enduring severe sexual abuse for the gratification of those like him.
Sian Cutter, prosecuting, stated that in April of this year, Jonathan Meadows’ offender management performed a monitoring visit at his residence, during which she discovered he was signed into the social networking and messaging application Discord using the alias Julie Shepherd. The court was informed that, pursuant to a previously established sexual harm prevention order, Jonathan Meadows is prohibited from maintaining social media accounts under any name other than his own unless he registers them with the police.
The prosecutor said the discovery of the unauthorised social media name led the policewoman to seize the defendant’s electronic devices. On his phone and an SD memory card officers subsequently found a total of 95 child sexual abuse images – including 17 Category A pictures and videos showing the most extreme forms of abuse including rape – along with 56 prohibited images, and five images of extreme pornography. Miss Cutter said the estimated age of the youngest child in the photographs was between six months and one year.
Jonathan Adrian Meadows, 30, of Clyne Court, Sketty Park, Sketty, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of making – that is possessing – indecent images, possession of prohibited images of children, possession of extreme pornography, and breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has one previous conviction for seven offences – in 2020 he was given a suspended prison sentence and made the subject of a SHPO for three counts of making indecent images, three counts of distributing indecent images, and possession of extreme pornography.
Dan Griffiths, for Jonathan Meadows, said the defendant was at pains to point out to the court that there was “no sinister motive” for having the Discord account in a different name – he said his client intends to transition and Julie Shepherd is the name he wants to adopt. He said his client realised that he should have told police about the account in the name of Julie Shepherd, and he said it had to be accepted that Meadow’s engagement with the 2020 court order had been “superficial”.
Judge Paul Thomas KC told the defendant he had been given a “significant chance” with the imposition of the previous suspended sentence but it was clear he had learned nothing. The judge told the defendant that possession of indecent images was not a victimless crime and the photographs he downloaded showed real children somewhere in the world being horribly abused so people like him could masturbate over them.
With a discount for his guilty pleas Jonathan Meadows was sentenced to 21 months in prison comprising 12 months for breaching the SHPO and nine months for the image offences charges to run consecutively. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. He will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years, and the existing SHPO was allowed to continue.
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