PARENTS of young children should be wary of these paedophiles who avoided prison despite sickening offences in Worcestershire.
The following four child sex offenders all avoided jail despite being convicted of their crimes.
MARK LERIGO, 49
A former Conservative party campaign manager was given a suspended sentence after he admitted possessing over a thousand indecent images of children.
Mark Lerigo, 49, was handed a 24 month prison sentence, suspended for two years when he was sentenced on August 21 this year.
As well as the images, investigators found a WhatsApp chat with another offender discussing the sexual abuse of children.
Lerigo had an iPad which contained a total of 1,005 illegal images including 146 category A (the most serious) abuse pictures of children, and 258 images of extreme pornography.
He was handed a 24 month prison sentence, suspended for two years and given 40 rehabilitation days, 150 hours of unpaid work, a four month electronic curfew between 8pm and 6am and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
He will also be on the sex offenders register for the next 10 years in addition to forfeiting four electronic devices and paying £670 in costs.
ANDREW PALMER, 50
Palmer, is a former soldier who had more than 2,500 indecent images of children and admitted he could see ‘the fear’ in their eyes as they were abused.
Palmer had already admitted three counts of making indecent images of children when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court for sentence in 2018.
Police carried out a warrant at the home he shared with his parents in Bromyard Road, Tenbury Wells.
Officers seized an iPad, mobile phone, computer towers and a disc drive from the defendant’s bedroom. Palmer had 260 images at category A, the most serious level, 437 category B images and 1,823 images at category C.
Palmer told a probation officer: “They’re children. They have no say. They are powerless to do anything about it. You can see the fear in their eyes and in their expressions.”
Judge Jim Tindal said: “You appreciate that what you did was to perpetuate the abuse of children, not directly but because every time you click on these images you are encouraging trade in the abuse of children all over the world.”
Palmer was given a community order for two years with 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 150 hours unpaid work.
A sexual harm prevention order was also made and Palmer must sign the sex offenders register for five years. He must also pay £250 towards prosecution costs. All devices where police found indecent images will be destroyed.
BENJAMIN PARTRIDGE, 49
Partridge claims 'alien trees' made him download indecent images of children being raped as they were subjected to the most 'appalling' abuse.
He was found guilty of possessing category A images of children, one showing a girl of between six and eight years old being raped.
Michael Aspinall, prosecuting, said there were hundreds of other inaccessible files found at his home in Worcester which suggested they had once contained indecent images.
One of the folders was marked 'unpleasant', and Partridge had entered search terms like 'Lolita rape child' and 'nine year old tied up with nylon'.
He admitted three counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image of a woman having sex with a horse. He had two still images of children and seven moving images at category A, six at category B and 13 still photographs and two moving images at category C.
Judge Nicolas Cartwright said Partridge had 'very genuine and serious mental health difficulties' including Bipolar Disorder, was on the autistic spectrum, suffered from anxiety and depression and was delusional.
He said: "I can't pretend to understand, indeed I don't suppose anyone can understand, the way that you were thinking to do with the trees being an alien species instructing you to obtain information relating to the human species that led you to download these images.
"Bizarre as that sounds, it's clear from what I have read in the probation report and the psychiatric report that you did actually have this thought process going through your head, odd as it seems."
He added: "The damage that is done to the child both physically and, more importantly, psychologically will be profound and life-long."
Partridge was sentenced to a two year community order to include 40 rehabilitation activity requirement days. The devices which contained the images were forfeited and destroyed.
A sexual harm prevention order was made for five years. Partridge was made to pay £535 costs.
AIDAN MOSS, 30
Moss, a former teacher at Tudor Grange Academy in Worcester admitted making indecent images of children back in 2017.
This included nine category A pictures of children – the most explicit and offensive kind – along 22 category B and 15 category C images.
Moss was suspended from the school in December 2016.
At a previous court hearing Worcester magistrates were told that Moss had been addicted to pornography for 10 years and had become desensitised to the content.
He would download images and then delete them shortly after he had used them.
Moss' offences were revealed when police were called to his address on December 14 in 2016 and seized various devices for accessing the internet.
Moss was sentenced to a two year community order and ordered to complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
He was placed on a daily curfew for two months between 9pm and 6am. A sexual harm prevention order was also made which restricts Moss's use of the internet.
The judge also ordered that the devices on which the indecent images were found be seized and destroyed.
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