Lymington man Daniel Bartlett given suspended jail term after using Twitter to obtain child abuse images

A Lymington man who called Twitter a “wild jungle” that he used to obtain more than 2,000 images of children and babies being sexually abused wept in the dock as he was spared jail.

Appearing at Southampton Crown Court for sentencing, Daniel Bartlett (32), of Gosport Street, had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children between February and August 2021.

Prosecutor Ned Sillett said Bartlett had been “very defensive” when police went to his home in September 2021 and asked to see his mobile phone following a tip-off.

The court heard Bartlett initially told officers he didn’t have the device on him, but an officer then “saw the phone protruding from his pocket”.

After the defendant surrendered the phone and a blue gaming laptop to the police, they discovered a number of abuse images involving children aged between three and 14.

Officers found 425 category A – the most serious – child abuse images, including two movies, plus 367 category B images and 1,248 category C images.

Mr Sillett said some of the images were “extreme” and showed children “discernibly in pain”.

Officers found in Bartlett’s web history that 67 system warnings had been sent to the user about accessing illegal images.

The court heard Bartlett had used Twitter to get links for some of the images and described the platform as a “wild jungle”. He told officers: “If you can think of it, I’ve seen it.”

Bartlett said he had seen images of babies being abused and had “knowingly sent” indecent images of children to others.

Despite the admissions, the defendant answered no comment to most questions during a police interview in October 2021.

The court heard he had previously been convicted for making indecent images of children in 2018 and had been made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a suspended jail term.

Mr Sillett said both of the cases against Bartlett included a number of similar “aggravating factors” such as the age of the victims, the volume and extreme nature of the images and the “discernible pain and suffering” depicted in some of the images.

The court heard in both cases he had used a girlfriend’s laptop to obtain some of the images.

Mitigating, Francisca da Costa told the court her client had pleaded guilty to the latest offences at the earliest opportunity.

She said Bartlett has an “ongoing problem with addiction” and that he “did not have a pleasant upbringing”.

The court heard “life wasn’t kind to him”, and that he spends a lot of time gaming, adding: “He has difficulty separating what’s real and what’s on the screen.”

Miss da Costa said: “He does appreciate there are real victims in the offending and he is ashamed about that.”

Mr Recorder James Newton-Price handed down a 12-month jail term, suspended for 24 months, to cover all three offences.

Bartlett was ordered to complete 100 hours of community work and attend rehabillitation over the next 24 months.

He was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, to run for the next ten years; and the judge ordered the forfeiture and destruction of Bartlett’s phone and laptop.

“I’m told these images show children discernibly in pain,” said Recorder Newton-Price. “You have admitted using Twitter to see images of babies. These images involve young children over a significant period. You were also involved in an online network to obtain images.

“But you have also expressed remorse and admitted your responsibility. You’ve shown some insight and I accept that your behaviour is compulsive.”