A WEST Cumbrian man is facing a Carlisle Crown Court trial over charges arising out cartoons allegedly depicting child abuse and sex with an animal.

During a 20-minute hearing, 46-year-old Graham Clarke formally entered not guilty pleas to eight allegations, which prosecutors say are related to his activities as part of a WhatsApp group between July 2020 and June 2022.

The offences are alleged to have taken place in Gosforth. The charges denied by the defendant, whose address was given as Meadowfield, Gosforth, Seascale, are:

  • Three counts of distributing indecent child images, with one count relating to Category C images, one to Category B images, and one to Category A images, regarded as the most serious kind.
  • Three counts of downloading such image – again with one charge for each category image, A, B and C.
  • Possessing an extreme pornographic image, portraying a person performing a sex act with an animal
  • And possessing a prohibited image of a child.

After legal discussions, Judge Nicholas Barker told the defendant – represented by defence lawyer Kim Whittlestone – that he must return to the court for a case management hearing on August 4.

In the meantime, he was granted conditional bail.

The conditions include that he must have no unsupervised contact with any child other than when this is inadvertent, or with the consent of a guardian who has knowledge of the proceedings; and he must not reside in any property where a person under 18 also lives unless a guardian has knowledge of the proceedings.

The trial is likely to take place in the week beginning October 16, added the judge.