Sick Chesterfield paedophile made internet searches for “cute petite”, court hears

Richard Dunham, 42, was found with images of girls as young as two years old after a police raid at his home.

Derby Crown Court was told a video showed one of the youngsters between the ages of eight and ten naked and “dancing provocatively”.

A prosecutor described how, during his arrest in early 2021, officers found a Sony phone hidden in the defendant’s underwear.

Police were unable to unlock this smartphone because Dunham claimed he had “forgotten” the pin number, the court heard.

However, police uncovered nearly 60 child porn images and videos from another Sony phone and a tablet.

On one of the phones seized officers found a Drop Box account registered to Dunham’s email address with a file inside labelled “paedophiles and the young”.

The prosecutor said: “Eleven category C images were found and were distributed during several Kik messenger conversations.”

Dunham’s barrister said his client was a man of previous good character who “knows what he was done is wrong”.

The defendant, of Cordwell Close, Staveley, admitted making and distributing indecent photographs of children and possessing an extreme pornographic image.

Judge Martin Hurst told Dunham: “One of the disturbing aspects of this case is you were warned regarding the pin to one of these devices that couldn’t be opened.

"You indicated that you had forgotten the pin. I find that difficult to swallow but you have been frank otherwise.”

Dunham was handed a two-year community order with a 45-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 43 days on the Horizon programme for sex offenders.

He was also ordered to undertake unpaid work, handed a five-year sexual harm prevention order and £1,000 court costs.