A CAMBORNE man who was in possession of hundreds of child sexual abuse and extreme pornographic images and movies has been sentenced by a court in Cornwall.

David Ayling, aged 41, of Camborne appeared at Truro Magistrates' Court, acting as Crown Court, on Thursday, September 7, 2023, on three counts of making indecent images of children, one count of possessing prohibited images of children, and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images portraying sexual activity with a dead or alive animal. 

The offences took place back in February of 2021 when the defendant was working as a mental health support worker.

The court heard how, in February 2021, Ayling had been using the Kik mobile application on his personal mobile phone to upload child abuse images using his own and a client's internet connection. 

The images included 126 Cat A images - the worst kind of child sex abuse images - which included 27 still images and 99 movies. He was also in possession of 114 Cat B images and movies, and 66 Cat C images and movies.

The court heard how the children in the movies and images ranged in age from between three years old and 17 years old, were both male and female, and in some of the material, could be seen to be visibly distressed and upset. 

Ayling was arrested and had his phone seized where it was found that the Kik app had been deleted. He would admit to police that he had accessed many of the images using a different mobile application, Telegram, after deleting the Kik app.

He also admitted that he had used chat rooms on the Kik app with names such as 'Playroom' and 'Teens' but said that he had not wanted child sex abuse images and had deleted the images after being sent them. 

The court was also told that the aggravating factors in the case included the ages and vulnerability of the children featured in the material, the large number of victims, and the period of time in which they were in his possession. 

During his sentencing, Judge Robert Linford told Ayling: "You were employed as a mental health support worker and, while engaged in that support, you were using your personal device to view this material. 

"The material that was found by police were images of children, some as young as three-years-old, being sexually molested, being raped, being exposed.

"Some of them were crying, some were in pain.

"How on Earth people get sexual gratification from viewing this is beyond the comprehension of right-thinking people."

Judge Linford went on to state that he did think there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in Ayling's case and that he would be suspending the sentence due to the fact that other would suffer if he were to be sentenced to prison.

Ayling was handed down a sentence of 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and will be made to take part in a rehabilitation activity for 30 days as well as complete 180 hours of unpaid work.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for ten years and made to sign the sex offenders register for a period of 10 years.