Dedham sex offender had child abuse images and sick Wickr chat

Peter Ellmore, 26, was arrested after Essex Police’s online investigations team raided his home address in Bargate Lane, Dedham.

During the search in March 2021, police seized his mobile phone, which was found to contain 22 indecent images at the most serious level A category, alongside 23 at category B and 21 at category C.

Ipswich Crown Court heard police also found Ellmore had engaged in chats over online chat application Wickr, "discussing the sexual abuse of a 14-month-old and a 3-month-old child".

Deputy Circuit Judge David Pugh said: “They included how you would get gratification causing such children pain while sexually assaulting them.”

In police interview, Ellmore said during lockdown he became lonely and “just chatted to people”.

He said “chatting” with people progressed to them sending him images.

He told police he did not share them with anyone else.

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The court heard he “didn’t tell his parents or his friends” about the chats, deleting the pictures “believing they would be gone forever”.

He told police the images had made him feel sick, adding he was “disgusted” by them and insisting he did nothing to encourage the sending of the images.

He said he “thought at the time he was having a general chat”.

Ellmore admitted publishing an obscene article and three counts of making indecent images of children.

Frank O’Toole, mitigating, said his client has no previous convictions and had admitted the offences at the earliest opportunity.

He told the court Ellmore lives with ADHD, autism and hypermobility, “vulnerabilities” which would impact on his mental health should he be jailed.

The case was heard at Ipswich Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

Mr O’Toole said his client had been “very isolated” when he committed the offences, “staying in his bedroom” during a Covid lockdown.

“It presented a temptation to him which unfortunately he did not resist,” he said.

“He was reminded of the damage and pain this causes to the children depicted in the images, real individuals and real human beings.

“He fully accepts that.”

The court heard the impact on him and his “shocked” family had been “beyond calculation”.

“He lives in a small community, word gets around and as a result he has faced a degree of isolation,” said Mr O’Toole.

He said his friends and girlfriend had since spurned him after learning of the offences.

Judge Pugh said: “These are real children and your offending behaviour encourages and promotes such offending against these children.

“These are not victimless crimes.”

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The judge said he is bound to follow sentencing guidelines around the possession of illegal images of children, with the most serious category A images having a starting point of one year imprisonment, with a range of between 20 weeks and three years for the most serious cases.

He said the case was aggravated by the age of the children in some of the images, adding: “There was one child under six months of age.”

Turning to a psychiatric report prepared on Ellmore, Judge Pugh said: “Whilst you may have been diagnosed with ADHD, [the doctor] concludes that has not produced any functional deficit in you and is not relevant to any offending behaviour.

“Although you may have autistic traits, that was not a significant factor in relation to your offending behaviour.

“Having said that, I have read the pre-sentence report, which proposes that you can properly address this offending behaviour in the community.”

The judge was also bound to apply a one-third discount to the sentence to take into account his guilty plea.

Ellmore was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, with conditions to complete an accredited programme for such offenders, 150 hours of unpaid work and a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He will remain on the sex offender’s register and subject to a sexual harm prevention order for ten years.

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