A Crawley paedophile, Jonathan Price, discovered in cocaine possession tried to conceal a mobile phone from police visiting his Crawley house.
Paedophile Jonathan Price stored several obscene pictures on his phone.
Initially arrested, rigorous bail restrictions were placed to enable digital forensic work to be finished. On release, however, he kept downloading and sharing sexually graphic photographs of youngsters.
The 35-year-old, Jonathan Price, also downloaded explicit pornographic pictures. He tried to conceal a cell phone and fought arrest when police visited him once again for fresh offences.
In an interview, he said the phones belonged to friends despite data proving his direct use of them.
Police were also able to prove how he had tried to interact sexually with youngsters on the internet.
Initially a motor mechanic living in the Tilgate area of Crawley, Jonathan Price finally admitted all 16 offences and received a four-and-a-half-year sentence at Lewes Crown Court on March 28.
Price was initially arrested in December 2022, the court was informed, and discovered to have possessed drugs, extreme pornography, and obscene photos of children.
Officers learned further that he was still seeing and distributing paedophilic photos of minors while on bail for those charges.
Jonathan Price was arrested again in August 2023 and placed in jail, awaiting legal processes.
Investigating officer Detective Constable Sophie Alderson said: “Jonathan Price was first arrested, tight bail conditions were set while digital forensic work was done.
Still, he kept possessing and downloading graphic pictures of child sexual abuse. He tried to stop authorities from taking his new mobile phone after being discovered drunk on cocaine upon his second arrest.
“In his interviews, he made strange assertions regarding the equipment he was utilising. He said he was being threatened to hang onto equipment for other paedophiles and blamed imaginary friends.
“Our findings revealed he had downloaded obscene photographs and also displayed personal phone usage, including saving personal contacts and gaining access to his accounts.
“Possession of and downloading indecent photos causes great harm to people shown in the images, and downloading them continues the horrible trade in these indecent images. This case demonstrates our will to stop offenders from further harming children and to prevent these crimes.
Jonathan Price was found guilty overall of six counts of distributing obscene images of children of all kinds, two counts of possession of extreme pornographic images depicting sex with animals, three counts of making indecent images of children, three counts of attempting to communicate with children under the age of sixteen for sexual gratification, and two counts of possession of cocaine.
The Sexual Harm Prevention Order bars Jonathan Price from possessing computers, mobile phones and electronic equipment without police permission. Apart from his name and previous police approval, he is not permitted to have a social media account; moreover, he is not permitted to utilise social media applications using live broadcasting. Before he may use any computer equipment, passwords and usernames must be provided to the police and monitoring software must be installed on every machine.
Before interacting with youngsters, the injunction also mandates him to tell parents and guardians about them. Jonathan Price is presently also registered as a sex offender.
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