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A man serving a suspended sentence over artificial intelligence (AI) images of child sexual abuse has been warned by a judge he has escaped prison “by the skin of your teeth” after being caught with more illegal content.
James Castell, of Heathfield, East Sussex, was handed an 18-month community order and ordered to carry out more unpaid work and rehabilitation activities at Hove Crown Court on Tuesday.
The 40-year-old was already serving an 18-month sentence suspended for two years which was handed down at the same court in December last year.
Sussex Police said he was one of the first in the county to be sentenced for creating child sexual abuse content using artificial intelligence at that time.
In February he further admitted possession of eight prohibited images of children, which were AI-generated and downloaded from X, where they were “readily available”, defence counsel Rebecca Upton told the court.
She said: “He did not understand the images of clothed children from an open source social media site were prohibited.
“Clearly they are prohibited and that has been explained to him and he has admitted and accepted he has done something wrong.”
The court heard the images were either cartoons or photographs manipulated to put on a child’s face.
The images were found on his phone on a visit from probation and officers noticed it had a Grok and X app on it which is used for AI bots with the ability to generate and create deepfake images of women and children.
Ms Upton added that rehabilitation activity requirements ordered for Castell in December have not yet begun and he is getting help, privately supported by his family, in the meantime.
Judge Jeremy Gold KC said it is a “very unusual” case because of it being only eight images and “none of them involve real children they’re all AI-generated”.
Sentencing Castell, the judge said: “You are walking a very fine line.
“You need some intensive therapies to address your various difficulties.
“You have escaped a custodial sentence by the skin of your teeth. If you don’t want to go to prison you’re going to have to address your behaviour – do you understand?”
In December, Castell was sentenced for three counts of possessing an indecent or pseudo photograph of a child and possession of a prohibited image of a child and distributing an indecent or pseudo photograph of a child.
According to Sussex Police, he had been linked to the online sharing of an indecent image of a child that appeared to be created using artificial intelligence.
When he was arrested, his seized devices showed more than 3,800 indecent images of children, including more than 600 of the most serious category, dating back as far as 2016.
AI software that uses text to create images was also discovered, the force had said.
In December, Sussex Police detective chief inspector Luke Kyriakides-Yeldham, said: “Every child sex abuse image created or shared fuels this despicable industry, and James Castell has shown absolutely no regard for children’s safety in pursuit of his own gratification.
“Artificial intelligence is a rapidly evolving technology, and cases such as this show criminals will use AI for their own ends.”