A MAN who was running a Studley-based Scalextric circuit and children’s party company had amassed a collection of indecent images of children from the internet.
Bizarrely, Jonathan Sword, who also had images involving sexual torture and sex with animals, was caught after the police were called to the funeral parlour where he worked.
His bosses had been suspicious about his behaviour in the mortuary – although he faced no charges in relation to that when he appeared at Warwick Crown Court.
Sword, 54, who owned and ran the Phoenix Scalextric Circuit in Jill Lane, Studley, pleaded guilty to six charges of making indecent images of children and two of possessing extreme pornography.
He was sentenced to 16 months in prison suspended for two years and was ordered to take part in a rehabilitation activity for 50 days and to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
In addition Sword, of Southwick Road, Halesowen, will be barred from working with children and was ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.
Prosecutor Martin Butterworth said Sword came to the attention of police in May while he was working for a funeral parlour, which he did not name, in south Warwickshire.
The proprietor of the funeral parlour had ‘discovered him alone in the mortuary in suspicious circumstances.’
The police seized his computer, and, after he had given a mostly ‘no comment’ interview, a member of the police high-tech crime unit examined Sword’s computer which had a large number of indecent images of children on it, including 47 movies and 51 stills classed as being in category A.
There were nine category B movies and 29 stills and six movies and 55 stills in category C.
In addition, among what the expert had described as ‘a very disturbing collection indeed,’ there were 59 videos and 252 stills of extreme pornography.
When Sword, who had no previous convictions, was interviewed again he admitted downloading the images and building up his collection of them over the past five years.
Mark Sharman, defending, said Sword, who may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, had served in the Royal Armoured Corps for 16 years, after which he set up a business manufacturing toy soldiers before going on to set up the business running Scalextric events.
He added that Sword was ‘highly motivated to address his offending,’ and since his arrest had disconnected his internet service and sought help from the Lucy Faithful Foundation and another organisation working with sex offenders.
26th Apr, 2024
