A CARLISLE man who was caught with child abuse images which included the rape of a four-year-old has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Johnny Bijou, a 47-year-old Syrian refugee who settled in the city in 2017, said he had not realised it was against the law in the UK to watch such horrific child abuse online – a claim that a judge said he completely rejected.

The defendant admitted three charges of downloading child abuse images, including 65 which were Category A, the worst kind. He also admitted possessing extreme pornography and a prohibited image of a child.

Peter Wilson, prosecuting, said that the offending came to light on December 15, 2021, when Cumbria's Police's Digital crime unit received “reliable information” that indecent child images were being accessed from the defendant’s devices.

As well as finding the Category A images, police found eight Category B images and 18 which were classified as Category C. The extreme pornography included images of somebody sexually abusing a horse.

No mitigation was aired in the hearing as Recorder Tony Hawks moved straight to sentence. He said the defendant, whose address was given as Scotch Street, Carlisle, had moved to the UK in 2017 after leaving his native Syria.

The judge told Bijou: “I reject entirely the suggestion made to the probation officer that you came across material accidentally and I reject entirely the suggestion that when you came from Syria you didn’t realise that watching a four-year-old being [raped] by an adult was illegal.”

That claim, said the judge, was an insult to the people of Syria. Recorder Hawks also dismissed the defendant’s claim that he did not derive sexual gratification from his offending.

The judge said: “You and people like you must understand that you can’t shelter behind the suggestion that you simply watch this material, taking no part in its creation.

“The creation of these images by awful people causes catastrophic and life-changing damage to very young children; and your hands, by being a consumer of this material, are just as dirty as the people who made these disgusting images in the first place.

“Don’t think in any way that your hands are clean. They are not.” The judge imposed a year’s jail, suspended for two years.

The sentence includes 30 days of rehabilitation, to address the defendant’s offending. Bijou will be on the Sex Offender Register for a decade and will face restrictions under a sexual harm prevention order, which will apply for the same 10-year period.

If you are concerned about your own thoughts or behaviour, you can seek help from the Stop It Now Campaign. 

The group also operates a confidential helpline, available on 0808 1000 900.  

Another source of help and advice can be found at Childline website, which is also operates a helpline on 0800 1111.