Lowestoft man handed community order for indecent images

Lowestoft man handed community order for indecent images

A 70-year-old man from Lowestoft has been handed a community order after pleading guilty to indecent image offences.

Stanley Smith, of Roman Road in Lowestoft, appeared at Great Yarmouth Magistrates’ Court on Friday 18 September for sentencing where he was handed a community order for 12 months.

He had previously pleaded guilty to making indecent photographs/pseudo photograph of a child, possessing a prohibited image of a child and possessing extreme pornographic image/images portraying an act of intercourse/oral sex with a dead/alive animal.

Smith was arrested at his home address on 12 March 2026 after police received intelligence that he had uploaded suspected indecent images of children to the internet.

Officers conducted a search of his property and seized 14 devices for forensic examination.

These identified:

Smith admitted to sole ownership of the devices, downloading the images and viewing them.

In addition to his sentence, Smith was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years with multiple conditions. He was also ordered to complete a 15-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and to pay costs totalling £279.

Detective Sergeant Mark Cotton from the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team said: “Smith was found to be in possession of images of appalling sexual abuse committed against children, many of whom were too young to understand what was happening to them.

“This is not a victimless crime; behind every image is a real child who has been exploited and abused.

“Whilst this investigation has not resulted in an immediate custodial sentence, Smith will have strict conditions imposed upon him as part of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which will be monitored.

“His conviction has come as a result of partnership working with the National Crime Agency and we will continue to work proactively with them to identify and prosecute those who upload indecent images of children and communicate with children online.”