Paedophile jailed after refusing to unlock his phone for police

A former soldier who previously admitted to having indecent images of children was jailed after refusing to disclose his iPhone PIN code.

Ashley Grace was previously handed a suspended sentence of imprisonment in February 2018 after admitting possession of a "small number" of a indecent images of children. The now 61-year-old appeared back before Chester Crown Court on February 15 this year where he was sentenced to nine months in prison after failing to comply with an order requiring him to disclose the PIN of protected information.

Grace previously pleaded guilty to making category B images and category C images, distributing a category B image and possession of nine indecent images after a search of his phone, and WhatsApp messenger contact, by police in Runcorn.

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Although Grace had been charged over four category B images and five category C images, his defence counsel said when copies and cropped versions were excluded, the possession amounted to three category B and one category C image. His defence told the court in 2018 there were no terms found in his search history indicating he had been looking for them, and he claimed there was "no rational explanation" for why Grace had sent an obscene image of a child.

The court previously heard how Grace, who had no previous convictions, had served in the army with the King's Regiment, completing two tours of Northern Ireland. Despite the relatively low number of images, his Honour Judge Simon Berkson previously told Grace the the distribution of a category B image was serious enough that it crossed the custody threshold.

To emphasise the severity, Judge Berkson described details of the shared image, which he said showed a girl of six or seven years old. He sentenced Grace to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months, placed him on the sex offenders register for seven years and ordered him to pay £250 court costs. The judge said a sexual harm prevention order was not required.

Sentencing Grace and with reference to the shared sick image, he said: "In my view that crosses the custody threshold. As the starting point is one year custody with a range of one week to two years custody, I’ve been persuaded the overall features of this case have a low number of images."

For the pin code offence, Grace, of Hilltop in Runcorn, was sentenced to nine months immediate imprisonment. The court also imposed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the phone.

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