A man from Nottingham has been found with roughly 12,000 distressing images of child abuse, with some victims being only three years old. At Nottingham Crown Court, investigators also discovered searches including Lolita and schoolgirls connected to Colin Worley, which allegedly fed his deviant sexual preferences. When officers arrived at his home in St Ann’s to arrest him, he reportedly admitted to them that he was attracted to young girls.
The 58-year-old had managed to avoid criminal trouble for almost 25 years after building up a substantial criminal history during his younger years, which included spending five years in prison for robbery. Prosecuting counsel Eunice Gedzah explained that authorities received information showing an internet protocol address linked to the defendant had been downloading illegal images of children. She stated that on February 12 of the previous year, officers executed a search warrant and seized electronic equipment. The prosecutor said he was asked whether he had accessed websites containing indecent material involving children. He admitted having viewed such content and confessed his attraction to young girls. He was then arrested and held in custody.
Miss Gedzah said that analysis of a laptop, external hard drive, and USB storage device uncovered 228 video or photographic files in the most serious category A classification, with victims aged between four and eleven. She mentioned a further 103 category B images showing girls aged three to thirteen, alongside 11,537 category C photographs depicting girls between five and eleven years old. The prosecutor noted that search history and file names also contained references to schoolgirl, incest, pre-teen and Lolita. During questioning, he acknowledged preferring girls aged approximately fifteen and older, and said he would view the imagery when he was bored while using his laptop.
Worley, living at Jedburgh Walk, entered guilty pleas to three charges of making indecent images of children. He received a five-year prison sentence for robbery during the 1990s and has amassed 26 previous convictions encompassing 106 offences, though none related to sexual matters, and had stayed out of trouble for 24 years. Catherine Picardo, for the defence, said her client initially told probation services his behaviour was connected to attempts to frame a neighbour, though he later admitted voluntarily downloading the images and videos. She said he has suffered from depression for several years since stopping work. He does not drink alcohol or take drugs, but unfortunately had an unhealthy obsession with pornography that led him to access this material. He has lived alone without family support, his dog died in January this year, and he expressed thoughts of suicide. He apologised to the court.
In handing down a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years, Judge Nirmal Shant KC said there came a point in his life when he became consumed by sexual obsession and preoccupied with pornography. He indicated his interest focused on girls aged sixteen and older, yet reached a stage where he became fixated on images of children considerably younger than sixteen.
As part of the suspended sentence, the court ordered Worley to complete 35 rehabilitation sessions, placed him on the sex offender register for ten years, and imposed a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.