Married University of Nottingham IT worker had vile child abuse images on Macbook

A married father who worked in the University of Nottingham’s IT department was found with hundreds of vile child abuse images on his devices. Nottingham Crown Court heard how “pornography addict” Shafiq Haque downloaded and watched sick movies of children as young as five for his own sexual gratification.

The 38-year-old, of Forest Fields, lost his job as a consequence and his barrister told his sentencing hearing that he is now in fear of other people finding out about his conviction. Rawaid Javed, mitigating, said: “He has let himself down, let his wife down and has brought shame on his family. He developed an addiction to pornography and came across this material which he should have deleted.

“But his addiction overpowered his willpower. He has recently turned 38 and this is his first conviction. He was in full-time employment but that came to an end as a result of this offending and he knows that finding a job will now be difficult.

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“As a result of his bail conditions he was not able to live at his family address with his two children and he has found this particularly challenging but he can’t blame anyone but himself.

“He is also worried what other people will think when they find out about this conviction. He says he was glad he was caught.” Serena Varatharajah, prosecuting, said police were made aware that an internet address linked to Haque had been downloading child abuse images and on July 12, last year, officers attended his address.

She said three devices were seized and analysed and a number of images were found on a Macbook Pro. The prosecutor said there were 157 of the most serious category A movies and images as well as category B and 500 category C.

Miss Varatharajah said: “Typically they showed children aged five to 12 and one category C image was found on equipment (he used in his role) at the University of Nottingham where the defendant was working. He was interviewed and answered ‘no comment’ to the questions he was asked.”

Haque, of Laurie Avenue and who has no previous convictions of any kind, pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of indecent images of children. Handing him an eight-month jail term, suspended for 18 months, Judge James Sampson said: “You can think yourself very lucky indeed on this occasion.

“By viewing this abhorrent material you are participating in the abuse of children, that's what you were doing. Having said that, having read your pre-sentence report, it is clear to me you were in the grips of addiction and you are full of remorse and full of shame.

“You are seeking help now and all of that is to your credit, You have no previous convictions and your wife is standing by you. This is something of a salutary lesson for you.”

As well as the suspended sentence, Judge Sampson ordered the defendant to sign on the sex offender register for 10 years and also handed him a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.