Teen downloaded pornographic images of children to see how ‘messed up people were’

Luke Chapman, 18, of Spirketts Lane, Harleston, appeared at Norwich Magistrates Court on Friday, November 8 charged with two counts of making indecent pictures of a child.

It came after more than 1,000 pictures and videos of children aged between two and 13 were found in his procession.

Ashley Petchey, prosecuting, said that Chapman had used the Tor network, a browser used for accessing the dark web, to search for pornographic images because he was interested to see how easy it would have been to access them and to see how "messed up people were".

Chapman was reported to police on June 5 this year after he attempted to upload images he had downloaded from Tor using a Google email address.

Officers were able to track the email address back to Chapman and attended his address.

The student, who lives with his parents, had been at school at the time of the call but officers were able to carry out a search warrant confiscating electronic devices.

Chapman was visited at school by officers who seized his mobile phone where the images and videos were discovered.

The court heard how in the past year he had become addicted to downloading the images but he did not gain any sexual pleasure from doing so.

He admitted to sending the pictures to some others but only did so because he did not want to be friends with them anymore.

Chapman's defence, Damien Moore, said the charges fell beyond magistrates' powers and must be sent to crown court.

Chapman pleaded guilty to the charges and will be sentenced at Norwich Crown Court.

He has also been added to the sexual offenders register.