Derbyshire man caught with nearly 25,000 indecent images of children, court hears

Robert Bell, 53, was found with the obscene pictures - some of which included videos - when police were “alerted” that the user of “a particular IP address” was accessing them.

Becky Allsop, prosecuting, told how police downloaded evidence from Bell’s computer that the upsetting photos had been viewed and deleted.

Chesterfield magistrates heard 4,875 of the pictures were category A - the most serious.

Magistrates heard Bell, “of previous good character”, could face up to three years in prison and could only be sentenced at a crown court.

His solicitor Nicholas Wragg told magistrates: “The sheer number of images would be considered an aggravating factor.

“There will be moving images and a very substantial amount of images - for those reasons you may consider that your sentencing powers are insufficient to deal with this matter.”

Bell, of Stanier Way, Renishaw, admitted making category A, B and C indecent photographs of children between 2007 and 2020.

Sending the case to Derby Crown Court for sentence, a magistrate bailed Bell with conditions to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16.

He was also ordered to register at Chesterfield Police Station within three days.

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