A MAN who was caught in possession of indecent images of children 鈥 and tried to blame his partner鈥檚 son 鈥 has been jailed for more than two years.
Daniel Martin John Aylward was arrested last summer after police officers searched his home and seized 14 devices.
They later found more than 1,000 indecent images of children aged between three and 14 on his phone, including 218 showing the most extreme forms of child abuse.
When questioned, the 45-year-old denied possessing the images or having a sexual interest in children 鈥 but said his partner鈥檚 son often visited the property and used the internet.
The innocent man was arrested and investigated before being released without charge.
Aylward later admitted possessing indecent images of children and was yesterday jailed for two years and two months by the Royal Court and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.
Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam, prosecuting, said Aylward had first been investigated in 2021 and now admits that he was downloading indecent images at the time.
On 19 July 2023, police officers searched Aylward鈥檚 home, seized his devices and arrested him.
Explaining the impact of Aylward鈥檚 false allegations, Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam said: 鈥淭he son was investigated.
鈥淭his included him being arrested, a warrant being executed at his address, and being kept in custody and interviewed.
鈥淗ad the defendant been honest in interview, all of this would have been avoided.鈥
Julia-Anne Dix, defending, said: 鈥淚t is clear that Mr Aylward is burdened by the guilt and shame as to the offences which he has committed.鈥
Aylward said he had downloaded the pictures when he was feeling vulnerable and only looked at them briefly before deleting them, the court heard.
He was assessed as being at low risk of reoffending.
Delivering the sentence, Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae said that trying to blame an innocent man was a serious aggravating factor.
He added: 鈥淗e was arrested, interviewed and investigated.
鈥淗ad you been honest, this would not have happened to him.鈥
In a statement, DS Jim McGranahan said: 鈥淲hen people view and download images on their computers, then vulnerable children and people around the globe become the victims of exploitation.
鈥淲e will do whatever is in our power to bring offenders to justice and place them before the courts in 新加坡六合彩, to safeguard those at home and abroad.鈥
The Jurats sitting were Karen Le Cornu and Michael Entwistle.
