A MAN who had over 1,300 indecent photos and videos of children as well as ‘extreme pornography’ of an animal has avoided immediate jail time.
Luke Coomber, 30, appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday (July 21) to be sentenced for three counts of making indecent photographs of children, one count of possessing extreme pornographic images and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child.
Coomber, of Tallow Hill, Worcester, had been in possession of 636 category A images of children, 348 category B images, and 342 category C images, as well as three images depicting sexual acts involving a person and an animal and a prohibited image of a child between September 2009 and February 2022.
He admitted to all five offences at a crown court hearing on June 9.
Indecent image categories – what do they mean?
Indecent images of children a split into three separate categories depending on the severity of their content.
Category C images are the least severe of three, and often depict indecent but not overtly sexual activity, such as nudity.
Category B images refer to images which show sexual activity of a non-penetrative nature.
Category A images represent the most severe category and depict images of penetrative sexual activity, sadism or extreme sexual acts involving children.
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Making vs taking
Despite sounding like similar offences, making indecent images and taking indecent images are different offences with significantly different sentences.
Taking an indecent image refers to the producing the indecent image for the first time – often photographing or filming child sexual abuse of some kind.
Making an indecent image refers to downloading the photos, and is therefore considered possession rather than production.
As a result, taking an indecent image can carry a prison sentence of up to nine years, while making an indecent image carries maximum sentence of three years.
Coomber was handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, by Judge Jonathan Salmon for the offences.
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He was also ordered to complete up to 25 days of rehabilitation activities, 120 hours of unpaid work, and the phone used to download the images was seized permanently.
A 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order was issued by, which will ban him from doing several things present a risk of him reoffending.
This includes using any device to access the internet without first making it available to the police to adjust the device’s settings, deleting his internet history, using the internet to contact any child known or believed to be under 16, or travelling outside of England and Wales without making the police aware at least two weeks beforehand.