A MAN who possessed more than 8,000 indecent images of children, and caused a 13-year-old to take an obscene picture of herself, has been told to expect jail.
John Hanning, 61, of Lyndhurst Drive, Bicknacre, admitted 14 charges at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Friday (June 27), including possessing scores of bestiality images, .
Across a number of electronic devices between June 2008 and February last year, Hanning amassed 8,418 indecent images and 162 indecent movies of children, along with 162 pictures of people having sex with animals.
Hanning also distributed 73 of the obscene images. He also admitted inciting a 13-year-old girl in 2011 to take an obscene picture of her with explicit words written on her legs specifically referring to him.
Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, said: "This is a man of previously good character, with charges of some 7,000 moving and still explicit images of children, some as young as five years old.
"They also include images of the girl, which through internet conversations, incited her to provide him an image of her posing with explicit comments on her body to him."
Sarah Read, mitigating, asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
Judge Charles Gratwicke said: "I'm prepared to order such a report but I will make it clear the seriousness of these offences means the likely outcome is to be a custodial sentence," adding the report would be largely to determine likely length of the sentence.
He ordered the report to be prepared for Friday, July 18, with a date for his sentencing to be shortly after that date.
Hanning, dressed in a dark grey suit, blue tie and white shirt, listened to proceedings in the dock with a hearing aid and only spoke to confirm his name and enter 14 guilty charges.
He was released on conditional bail and made to sign the sex offenders' register.
