A Maidstone man who downloaded hundreds of videos and images containing child sex abuse has been jailed.
John Pattison stored the collection of harrowing material on several memory cards, which included the abuse of victims as young as six months old.
John Pattison
Pattison was arrested on 5 December 2022, after officers from Kent Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team carried out a search at his home in Maidstone.
He immediately confessed to possessing a horde of illegal material, and several electronic devices were seized along with the memory cards.
When the memory cards were forensically examined they were found to contain multiple files, including almost 1,000 videos and images in the most serious category.
Prison recall and sentence
Within 24 hours of his arrest, Pattison appeared before Medway Magistrates’ Court, where he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children.
Pattison had been the subject of a life licence following a murder conviction in 2001 and this was revoked and he was recalled to prison. The licence had come into force when he was released from prison in 2019, having served 18 years.
On 24 May 2023, Pattison, aged 65, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to 16 months’ imprisonment.
On passing sentence, Judge Philip Statman described the collection of images as ‘a small library’ and told the court that any future release from prison would be a matter for the parole board.
A Sexual Harm Prevention Order lasting 10 years was also imposed.
Significant threat
DC Carl Evans said: ‘Pattison was downloading images and videos of child abuse almost on a daily basis and he described viewing these images as a drug that he was unable to control.
‘His disturbing behaviour has demonstrated a significant threat to children, and he has shown a complete lack of understanding that the material he downloaded will have resulted from real victims suffering appalling abuse.’