A RETIRED man who has been sentenced for possessing child pornography said he did it out of ‘curiosity’.

Peter Whitehurst, of Jameston, Bracknell, was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday (February 24) to three counts of possessing indecent photographs/pseudo-photographs of a child.

The court heard that the 67-year-old had accessed the material out of’ curiosity’ due to the abuse he experienced himself as a child.

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Prosecuting, Stefan Weidmann said: “[Whitehurst] said he has himself had been abused as a child so it was a note of curiosity as well as sexual.

“Having looked at the description of the indecent material found it seem to be all young girls and it seems to be as young as four years of age.”

In December 2021, he was found with 108 category A images, 72 of which were movies, 99 category B images, 77 category C images and nine prohibited images.

Robert Slinn, defending Whitehurst said the defendant has no previous convictions and described him as a man of ‘previous good character’.

He said: “This is a man who was once of good standing in the community. He’s a man whose life has changed as a result of these proceedings.

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“I wish to simply to make it clear that the defendant has issues that needs to be addressed and he has made steps since.

“He has spoken o his GP and had a referral made to deal with his mental health issues which are yet to be diagnosed.

“He has spoken to the Samaritans and he taken to being on anti-depressants for a time being. He has, taken together with his collaboration with the officers, done all he could have done to this point.”

He added that Whitehurst had volunteered in sports programmes for the visually impaired which he will no longer be able to do due to failing future DBS checks.

Judge Kirsty Real sentenced Whitehurst to 10 months imprisonment for the category A images to be suspended for 18 months.

Running concurrently, he was also sentenced to four months for the Category B images, two months for Category C and one month for the prohibited images.

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Whitehurst also must complete 40 days of rehabilitation activity and has been given a sexual harm prevention order which will last 10 years.

Judge Real said: “The offences are so serious that only custody can be justified. But having heard your mitigating factors today and the actions you’ve taken, we can suspend the sentence