A ‘nice chap’ was a completely different character ‘behind the scenes’, a judge said.
Jone Tava confessed to having got a ‘buzz’ out of looking at images and videos of children as young as eight being violated by older men.
Suspending his jail time for two years, a judge told the unemployed 26-year-old that 'behind the scenes' he was far from being the 'nice chap' praised in a series of character reference.
Having developed an interest in adult pornography, Oxford man Tava began looking at material showing the sexual abuse of underage children, the crown court heard.
He told detectives after his arrest in June 2020 that he got a ‘buzz of excitement’ from the indecent images ‘as he knew he was doing something he shouldn’t be doing’, prosecutor Robert Lindsey summarised.
Tava was said to have been looking at the images for two years, viewing them on Twitter and blog site Tumblr.
A number of devices seized from his home in June had been analysed. They contained 280 indecent images in the worst category, A, and included boys aged between eight and 12 being raped. He had 262 images in category B and 740 images in category C.
Tava, of Wytham View, Oxford, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three counts of making – or possession – of indecent images of children.
Sentencing him to 12 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, Judge Nigel Daly said: “You’ve been downloading illegal images of children. I can only assume that it’s for sexual purposes.
“As you probably appreciate, each of those images is the image of a real child and there is evidence that these children are being subjected to significant abuse; not only sexual abuse but physical abuse at the same time. That’s the reality behind these sort of images; somewhere, sometime this actually happened to these children.
“You are a man of previous good character. You have lost that good character.
“I have read a number of references that speak to your good character and what a nice chap you are.
“Well, behind the scenes you weren’t being a nice chap, as you know, and now it’s all out in the open.”
Mitigating, Angela Porter asked the judge to bear in mind her client had no previous convictions and had made full admissions at the very first opportunity. Tava was not working currently and was living at home with his parents.
The defendant was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order aimed at limiting his access to the internet. He must register as a sex offender for a decade.
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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
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