Reading Magistrates' Court: Newbury man caught with child sex abuse videos

A MAN caught with videos depicting the worst kind of child sex abuse has been told he must go to the crown court to be sentenced.

When police raided the 66-year-old's home they found hundreds of indecent images of children.

In the dock at Reading Magistrates' Court on Thursday, June 9, was Kevin Pollock.

Mr Pollock, of Mulberry Court, off Oddfellows Road, Newbury, admitted having 82 images and seven videos of child abuse in Category A – the most depraved of all.

He further pleaded guilty to possessing 105 images and four videos depicting Category B abuse and 432 images and three videos in Category C.

All the above offences were committed in Newbury and Mr Pollock spoke only to confirm his details and to admit to each one.

The prosecution urged magistrates to send the matters to Reading Crown Court to be sentenced by a judge with greater sentencing powers than are available in a magistrates' court, citing the serious nature of the abuse depicted, the number of images and the fact that they included moving images of child sex abuse.

Mike Davis, defending, told the court: "I may be able to save the court some time.

"I accept, on the defendant's behalf, that this is a case you won't want to deal with, given the nature of the first charge, if nothing else."

Since his arrest in January, the court heard, Mr Pollock has been on bail with conditions.

These include not having unsupervised contact with children, not having access to a device that can access the internet and a condition that he lives at his Newbury home.

But Mr Davis said his client, who was of previous good character, was keen to leave the area temporarily and to visit family in Leeds.

He added: "He has a number of health problems including issues with mobility.

"Mr Pollock would normally expect to stay overnight in Leeds, rather than go there and back in a day.

"His brothers have no children in their households."

Meanwhile, the court heard, Mr Pollock would now be required to sign on the Sex Offenders Register and to abide by the other conditions.

Magistrates agreed the case should be sent to Reading Crown Court for sentencing on a date to be fixed.

Mr Pollock was meanwhile released on conditional bail, although magistrates agreed to revoke the condition of residence at his Newbury home.