Fareham paedophile who ‘can’t restrain himself’ back in court after being caught with nearly 600 child abuse images
A PAEDOPHILE who ‘can’t restrain himself’ was caught out with nearly 600 child abuse images after a probe by police.
Fareham child pervert Conner Harcourt, 29, was back at Portsmouth Crown Court after being caught with graphic sex images of boys being abused.
Harcourt – a man with a self-declared sexual interest in children – was caught red handed when police were alerted to him falling foul of the law once again.
Officers turned up at his address and seized a mobile phone and a laptop when arresting him on October 28, 2020. Searches of the devices revealed 223 Category A images, 225 Category B and 132 Category C.
A baby less than a year old being raped was among the worst images.
Harcourt, of Valentine Close, was also found in breach of a previous order after failing to comply with notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order in April and May this year.
The defendant had failed to tell police of a Twitter account he had set-up in March which he sent a number of tweets from before stopping in April.
On the social media platform he urged users to ‘send me pervy’ and ‘illegal’ items.
Prosecutor Alex Kettle-Williams added: ‘He made full admissions to the Twitter account and the failure to declare the username.’
Asked why he had not told police, Harcourt replied: ‘I just didn’t.’
When quizzed over whether he had a sexual interest in children, Harcourt said: ‘Yes.’
The court heard of the defendant’s previous convictions which included sexual activity with a boy under 16 which he was given a three-year jail term for nearly 10 years ago.
Numerous other breaches were also highlighted including two breaches which led to him being handed a 12-week jail sentence suspended for two years in July 2021 – putting him in breach of the latest offences.
Bridget O’Hagan, defending, said Harcourt had autism and aspergers which had impacted his offending behaviour.
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Judge William Ashworth said to Harcourt: ‘You have order after order and keep doing this…you can’t restrain yourself.’
But the judge adjourned sentence until October 7 in order to find out more about how Harcourt’s conditions impact his behaviour.
Harcourt, who was remanded in custody, admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order and three charges of making indecent images of children.