A PAEDOPHILE, who previously lived in Salisbury, claimed he couldn’t have been looking at indecent images of children because he’s blind.

Colin Boon, 61, put forward the explanation as his defence lawyers prepared his case for trial.

That defence fell away when the Westbury man pleaded guilty in February to a dozen counts of possession of indecent or prohibited images of children and extreme pornographic videos showing women having sex with animals.

Judge Peter Crabtree sentenced Boon to 18 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, after hearing the sexagenarian was awaiting an operation to have a pacemaker fitted and it was unlikely he’d be able to complete the sex offenders’ rehabilitation programme if he was sent to custody immediately.

He said: “Anyone who downloads indecent images or children is fuelling an abhorrent industry, which involves the physical and psychological abuse of young children often with lifelong consequences. That is why this kind of offending is serious.”

Salisbury Journal:

Colin Boon outside Swindon Crown Court

Prosecutor Stephen Dent told Swindon Crown Court that members of paedophile hunter group Innocence Project North West live streamed a citizens’ arrest at Boon's then home in Salisbury in 2018.

The group’s male founder, posing as an underage girl, had spent eight days exchanging messages with Boon online. The sexually explicit messages concerned the group, although Boon claimed he was aware the “girl” with whom he was speaking was in fact a decoy account.

The visit from the vigilante group brought the defendant to the attention of the police. Officers seized 26 digital devices from his flat on which were found illegal images and videos. They included laptops, mobile phones and SD storage cards.

In total, he was charged with possession of 125 images and films in category A, 81 in category B, 191 in category C, four prohibited images and 77 extreme pornographic images and videos showing women having sex with animals.

The vile collection featured children estimated to be as young as 12 months. Analysis by digital forensics experts suggested Boon had started saving the images in 2006, Mr Dent said.

He was interviewed but declined to answer questions put to him. A defence statement was prepared by lawyers ahead of his planned trial. Mr Dent said of the document: “He offers no explanation how the indecent images came to be on his various media devices. He speculates about a computer virus but he claims never to have looked at or watched any of the indecent images because he was blind.”

Boon, of Bratton Road, Westbury, pleaded guilty in February to possession of indecent images of children, prohibited images and extreme pornography. He told the judge on the first day of trial he was entering the guilty pleas “on the advice of counsel”.

Charley Pattison, mitigating, asked the judge to consider suspending any sentence of imprisonment. Her client suffered from various health difficulties and was awaiting a pacemaker operation.

He would struggle to complete the sex offender rehabilitation programme in custody, due to the length of his sentence, interruptions for medical procedures and the difficulties running courses in prison during the pandemic.

Ms Pattison said her client had been forced to move away from his Salisbury home as a result of the publicity surrounding his initial arrest and the case. His daughter had severed ties with him.

Boon had no previous convictions.

Judge Crabtree ordered Boon complete 40 rehabilitation activity requirement days as part of his 18 month suspended prison sentence, saying it was in the interest of the public, children and Boon himself for the defendant to be rehabilitated.

He must register as a sex offender and comply with a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years. Charges of attempted sexual communication with a child will lie on the file.