A man from Maidstone who downloaded hundreds of videos and images containing child sex abuse has been jailed.
John Pattison stored the collection of illegal material on several memory cards, which included the abuse of victims as young as six months old.
Pattison was arrested on 5th December 2022, after officers from Kent Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team carried out a search at his home in Gabriel’s Hill. 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.
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 Pattison had been the subject of a life licence following a murder conviction in 2001 and this was revoked and he was recalled to prison.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.
His disturbing behaviour has demonstrated a significant threat to children
On 24th 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.
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’.
