IT worker found pensioner paedophile's image haul

An IT worker doing a software update discovered a paedophile pensioner's "horrifying" haul of images of babies and children being raped, a court has heard.

William Crallan, 81, had collected hundreds of "repugnant" videos and pictures since 2007, which were discovered in January 2025 by a computer technician looking at his laptop, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Crallan, of West Allotment in North Tyneside, was jailed for 10 months suspended for two years after admitting making indecent images of children and possessing prohibited and extreme pornographic images.

Recorder Mark Ainsworth said criminals like Crallan created a demand for children to be abused.

A field technician for a computer company went to Crallan's home to do a software update on his laptop on 10 January 2025, prosecutor Rachel Butt said.

When he opened the screen, the man was confronted with a "collage" of children, ranging in age from babies to about seven years old, being abused and raped, the court heard.

When he left Crallan's home, the IT worker told his bosses who informed police, the court heard.

In a statement, the man said the images were sickening and "hard to forget".

Police seized a number of devices from Crallan's home and ultimately found 1,008 indecent images of children, including 292 in the most serious category, the court heard.

Children ranged from age to babies to 15 years old, with the average age five or six, and had been collected between September 2007 and January 2025, the court heard.

More than 30,000 images were also found but they had not been categorised as police had already reached the number needed to prosecute, Butt said.

They also discovered searches Crallan had made online for indecent images of children, the court heard.

In mitigation, Mark Harrison said Crallan was "ashamed beyond words" and accepted the images were "disgusting and repugnant".

Recorder Ainsworth said it was "particularly sad" to see a man of Crallan's age who was of previous good character in the Crown Court dock.

"But if you for one second think my sympathy lies with you, you are mistaken," the judge told Crallan.

He said his thoughts were entirely with the hundreds of children depicted in the images in Crallan's collection, adding: "We may not know who they are or where they are but we know there is a child being abused in each and every image."

The judge said: "The assumption must be made if it wasn't for people like yourself creating a demand for these images, then this abuse would not take place."

Recorder Ainsworth praised the IT worker for reporting Crallan, adding the man had been "naturally horrified by what he saw".

The judge accepted Crallan lived a "solitary life" but said he made "deliberate searches" for child abuse material online and his offending covered 17 years.

Crallan was also ordered to comply with a sexual harm prevention order and sign the sex offender register for 10 years.

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