There was an interesting story in the local rag last week about anther child pornographer. It was interesting, and unique in several respects.
Firstly, he was referred to by the paper as "Pervert William Henkel". It is unclear whether that is really his first name, but if so, it shows some remarkable foresight on the part of his parents.
Secondly, unlike many of the arrests for child pornography these days, "Pervert" was not arrested as part of investigations over "Operation Ore". Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this man was stupid enough to print off lewd stories of children on the company laserprinter. Suspicious staff alerted the police, who raided his house the following day, the quantity of what was discovered leads me to the third point
Often in court you'll hear people plead guilty, and then ask for other offences to be taken into consideration. Well, Mr Henkel doesn't do things by halves:
he pleaded guilty to 17 charges involving making indecent pictures between 2001 and 2003 and asked for 10,746 similar offences to be taken into consideration.
That, for those who don't follow these things, is an extremely large amount of pornography by any standard, let alone child pornography. (Downloading one photo a day would have taken him almost 30 years).
It has been pointed out to me that I briefly met Mr Henkel at the Cambridge Beer Festival the other year, which thinking about it was rather suprising, given the total lack of anyone under the age of 18. It is also mentioned in the news article that he was ordered to sign the "Sex Offender Register", which got me wondering. What exactly is this register? Is it a large leather clad volume full of the signatures of paedophiles and other miscreants? I will report back when I find out.
Finally, although people like William Henkel may think that by just paying for and downloading images of child abuse they are gaining sexual gratification without the physical abuse of children themselves, they are greatly mistaken. As those who buy stolen goods encourages thieves, so those who buy child pornography encourage child rapists.
