A SOUTH Croydon man who received sick videos to his phone via WhatsApp has been convicted of two counts of possessing extreme animal-porn.
Curtis Roberts, 26, of Copse View, pleaded guilty today (Friday) at Croydon Crown Court to two count possessing extreme pornographic images portraying an act of intercourse/oral sex with a dead/alive animal which were grossly offensive, disgusting, or otherwise of obscene character.
Both videos depicted a person performing a sexual act on a dog.
A third count of possessing an indecent video of a child with a view to it being distributed or shown to another was dismissed after an application by the defence. This video depicted a sexual act on a donkey.
Roberts' phone had been checked by police for a completely unrelated matter.
But Alex Rooke, prosecuting, accepted Roberts' possession of the videos displayed a "distasteful sense of humour rather than anything more concerning".
Mr Rooke also accepted the defence submission the videos had been received through "unsolicited messages on WhatsApp" to his £500 iPhone.
Judge Stephen Waller gave Roberts, who works part time in a shoe shop, 12 month conditional discharges – to run concurrently - for both counts he was convicted of.
Judge Waller said: "It is accepted by the prosecution these were not for your own sexual satisfaction, they had passed through your phone and as the Crown put it, they are the result of a distasteful sense of humour by people who were passing them around."
Roberts was ordered to forfeit his phone - which he said was a present from his girlfriend – and ordered to pay £100 prosecution costs and a statutory victim surcharge.
The dropped charge of possession of an indecent video of a child will remain on Roberts' file.
WhatsApp is the world's most popular instant messaging app for mobile phones and videos and images which are sent to mobile phones using it are automatically saved to video and photo libraries.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
