Thomas Windrum accepted that he had screenshotted an image and suggested that at the time he was as “high as a kite”
The Crown Court at Laganside in Belfast(Image: Liam McBurney/PA Wire)
A Co Down man was found with indecent images on his phone after police stopped his car for having a defective light, a court heard.
Thomas Windrum, 43, of Bryansford Meadow in Bangor, was handed a two-year probation after he admitted 17 charges of making indecent images of children.
The offences were committed on dates between December 31, 2019 and May 31, 2021.
Belfast Crown Court heard on May 31, 2021, police stopped Windrum’s car in east Belfast as the vehicle had a defective light.
A prosecution lawyer said Windrum was arrested for a separate matter and his phone was seized for examination.
A triage of the phone found 37 indecent images of children. Seven were in the highest category A, nine in category B and 21 in the lowest category C.
Windrum was interviewed by police on October 18, 2022 and he answered no comment when he was asked if he had ever seen an indecent image of a child.
Asked how the images came to be on his phone, he replied that they may have been there when he was high on drugs.
He told police that no one else had access to his phone and he didn’t remember downloading the images.
Windrum said he was “ashamed” and for what happened he described it as “wrong”.
In a pre-sentence report compiled by the Probation Board, he told the author that at the time of his offending he had got involved with the “wrong crowd” and started to use illegal drugs.
He said that during the Covid-19 pandemic he had become increasingly isolated and spent longer online having sexualised conversations with adults.
Windrum accepted that he had screenshotted an image and suggested that at the time he was as “high as a kite”.
He claimed he didn’t go back and look at the image but also accepted that he did not delete it.
The defendant denied any sexual interest in children and he told the probation officer that he was “ashamed, embarrassed and remorseful” for his behaviour.
Unemployed Windrum was now separated from his wife and has two sons who he has had no contact with since 2018.
The defendant has a number of previous convictions including one for drug offences.
The Probation Board found him to be a low risk of reoffending and said he did not pose a danger to the public in the future.
The prosecution accepted that there was a delay in the case from when Windrum’s phone was seized and subsequently examined by police before a file was sent to the PPS in 2024.
But defence barrister Stuart Magee said he did not accept the main delay in the case was the fault of the PSNI
“I don’t accept that. It takes a further two years to get to an arraignment for a case as straightforward as this and an almost five year delay to get it into court is just not acceptable,” said Mr Magee.
Belfast Recorder Judge Philip Gilpin said he was satisfied that there was “culpable delay” of around four-and-a-half years in the case and this delay would be reflected in his sentencing.
Judge Gilpin said that he had decided not to send Windrum to custody for a short period of time, adding that the appropriate sentence would be a two-year probation order.
Windrum was placed on the sex offenders register for a period of five years but Judge Gilpin said he did not believe a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) was proportionate to impose in the case.
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