Sailor had child porn on computer

A BURMESE sailor who admitted to a customs officer at the Port of Felixstowe that he had child porn on his laptop computer has been jailed for four months.

Sentencing 34-year-old Aung Thu, Ipswich Crown Court judge David Goodin said: “These images which you kept on your computer are deeply objectionable.”

He said they included images of “hideous perversion, depravity and cruelty” to young children.

“The evil in downloading this filth is that you feed the demand for it.”

Thu admitted four offences of making indecent images of children and was jailed for four months less 36 days he has already spent in custody.

Juliet Donovan, prosecuting, told the court that when a customs officer boarded Thu’s vessel while it was docked at the Port of Felixstowe on August 11 and asked if he had anything illegal in his possession Thu had shown him his laptop computer.

Miss Donovan said the computer was examined by an expert and in addition to 199 indecent still images of children Thu also had 14 sexually explicit video clips of young children being abused by adults.

After his arrest Thu told officers a friend had downloaded the items on to his computer and he had intended to delete them.

Craig Tipper for Thu said his client had been working on a ship which had arrived at Felixstowe from Burma.

“He was incredibly honest with the customs officer and it is perhaps only as a result of that honesty that he appears before the court today,” said Mr Tipper.