Sheffield man downloaded 'depraved' and 'wicked' child abuse content involving babies

"That is the most disgusting video I’ve come across in 30 years of practice,” a judge said as he jailed a Sheffield man for downloading thousands of child abuse pictures and videos.
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Recorder Gurdial Singh made the comments during a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court on April 1, during which the court heard how defendant David Fowler downloaded more than 7,000 images and videos showing babies and children being sexually abused.

One of the videos showed what Recorder Singh described as the ‘graphic rape’ of a baby whose legs were also burned during the ordeal.

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“The pain that baby must have suffered cannot be imagined. Society’s disgust demands a deterrent sentence, given the sheer depravity of what was depicted,” Recorder Singh told Fowler and jailed him for 21 months.

David Fowler was jailed for 21 months during a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court on April 1, after a jury found him guilty of downloading over 7,000 images and videos showing child abuseDavid Fowler was jailed for 21 months during a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court on April 1, after a jury found him guilty of downloading over 7,000 images and videos showing child abuse
David Fowler was jailed for 21 months during a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court on April 1, after a jury found him guilty of downloading over 7,000 images and videos showing child abuse

Fowler denied the offences of making indecent images of children of Category A, which is the most serious category, B and C, prompting a trial at the court in January this year.

Recorder Singh said the images and videos were so ‘depraved’ and ‘wicked’ he made an order for them to be kept from jurors serving on the trial in order to ‘spare them the trauma’ of viewing the suffering of the victims captured in the content downloaded by Fowler.

The court heard how a search warrant was executed at the home of Fowler, aged 33, due to intelligence relating to a ‘Mega’ account, described by Recorder Singh as ‘encrypted cloud storage,’ that was registered in his name.

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He was arrested after police seized his mobile phone, on which child abuse content were found.

Fowler, of Charnock Grove, Gleadless, denied downloading the images and claimed they must have been accidentally downloaded when he followed links shared by others in an online discussion about growing cannabis.

This account was rejected by jurors who found Fowler unanimously guilty, but the court heard that he has still maintained his innocence during meetings with the Probation Service.

"It’s clear that you knew what you were doing,” said Recorder Singh.

In mitigation, Vanessa Saxton said there was no suggestion Fowler had abused anyone himself, adding that he has also not carried out any additional offences since his arrest.

She told Recorder Singh that the Probation Service were willing to work with Fowler despite him maintaining his innocence, and asked him to suspend any prison sentence made.

Recorder Singh denied Ms Saxton’s request for Fowler’s sentence to be suspended, telling him an immediate prison term was ‘simply unavoidable’ due to the ‘risk and/or danger to the public’ he poses; and because he believed that Fowler’s refusal to accept his guilt meant there was ‘no realistic prospect of rehabilitation’.

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In addition to jailing Fowler, Recorder Singh also made him the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and placed him on the sex offenders’ register for the same period of time.

Recorder Singh added: “The appalling abuse suffered by these victims, and they are victims of your behaviour because you viewed these images, creating the market for this abuse. This is not a victimless crime.”