A LONER who downloaded images of child abuse later claimed he committed the offences because he was disillusioned with the government and interested in paedophile hunters.
Luke Halenko, 22, was stopped by police as he left his parents’ home in Tillingham last year before officers searched the house and seized several devices.
The defendant gave officers the PIN to an iPhone 11 which contained ten category A images which depicted sexual abuse of children as young as four, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
There were also 14 Category B images and nine Category C images which Halenko had downloaded in 2022 when he was 19.
He admitted three counts of making an indecent image of a child and was ordered by a judge to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work over the next 18 months.
Daniel Setter, prosecuting, said: “[As to] the age of some of the children, some of them recorded as being as young as four and six years of age.
“Police also indicate there were a large number of different victims.”
Barry Gilbert, mitigating, said he was sceptical about Halenko’s explanation to the probation service that he downloaded the images because he was unhappy with the government.
He added: “Everyone in the family is rather shocked he’s in court at all.
“I know we deal with these things all the time but, for most people, being sent to the Crown Court is quite a big thing and so it is for the Halenko family.”
He went on: “I am trying to put it as kindly as I can – at 22, some people are quite grown up.
“Your honour has seen a whole variety of people on the bar and on the bench – he isn’t fully grown up.
“He sits in his room he doesn’t really have any friends.”
Sentencing Halenko to an 18-month community order, Judge Jamie Sawyer said he did not accept the defendant’s explanation as to why he downloaded the images.
He said: “You had an interest in government affairs, a disquiet with government decisions and apparently the actions of paedophiles.
“You weren’t pleased with the way the government was acting and that explains why you downloaded these images.
“You describe being kept awake from those images – they will eventually fade from your mind, but for those children abused in those images and involved in that abuse, there is no ‘off’ switch.
“The offending stays with them, the abuse stays with them.
“This court so often sees the fallout of this abuse which ruins lives and very often echoes through generations of children being abused in that way.”
Halenko, of North Street, Tillingham, was also ordered to carry out 30 rehabilitation days and serve a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
He is now barred from working with children and vulnerable adults and was ordered to pay £150 in court costs.
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