A paedophile has been jailed after being found with 186 illegal images. When police made a routine check on Matthew Hatfield’s phone, they found indecent images.
Hatfield, 46, admitted breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) – imposed after a previous offence – between August 2022 and March 2023 and was today jailed at Mold Crown Court for 18 months. He also pleaded guilty to possession of prohibited images of children between August 2021 and March 2023 for which he got a concurrent, 12-month jail term.
Prosecutor Thomas McLoughlin said Hatfield, of Ffordd Ogwen, Bryn-y-Baal near Mold, had been made subject to the SHPO in January, 2019. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here
It meant he was prohibited from deleting his browsing history. But Police Constable Leanne Jones went to his home to make a routine check on his devices in March 2023. She asked him for his phone but he said he “couldn’t remember” where it was, although they found it on a bookcase.
The officer looked at it and found “cartoon images” which concerned her, said Mr McLoughlin. The device was seized and analysts discovered 186 images mainly of girls aged five to 14.
There were also six mobile phone apps for cleaning devices downloaded after August 2022. They had been used to delete some of the illegal files.
A number of internet searches carried out by Hatfield were also disclosed in court. Police interviewed Hatfield who said he knew the images were illegal but that the searches weren’t.
He “didn’t remember” if the images were viewed. He said he had also carried out a search ostensibly for over 18s but images of “younger people” had come up.
Ben Stanley, defending, said the defendant has learning difficulties, dyslexia and Asperger’s. He also has a conditions called Myotonic Dystrophy, which causes muscle loss and affects cognition, with symptoms worsening over generations. He has a pacemaker in his heart due to the dystrophy.
He lives with his parents, does not work and is isolated, he added. The judge His Honour Timothy Petts told Hatfield he had been made subject to a SHPO but was found after a check in 2023 to have breached it.
There were multiple device cleaning apps on his phone. The judge also noted a probation service report found he is aware of the consequences of his behaviour but has limited insight into how serious it is.
After his release from prison Hatfield will still be subject to the SHPO terms and now also to sexual offender notification requirements for ten years. The judge ordered the forfeiture of the mobile phone.
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