What to expect the unknown
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Hi my story
So in 2024 my life was turned upside down due to my husband being arrested of suspicion of downloading indecent images.
We were totally in shock as my husband hates the internet. He only users it for paying bills and downloading songs that we all like. Other than that he doesn't use it. Well they took our family laptop where ive used it he has and our daughter's. Hence with it being a family laptop
They also took my daughter's pc as her dad had used it to put some games off a disc on it. They took his phone iPad and even went to his place of work to take his work laptop.
Because we had children under the age of 18 we had social services involvement. He got arrested in the Jan but took social until April to come and assess us. Id had phone contact where they told me he could come home only when I'm there but can't sleep when the children were there. I'm still waiting on paperwork to confirm all this. I found out in September 24 that social had closed my case but there ruling still applied.
Bail kept getting extended and bail rules still applied. August 25 arrives and we finally get to go bail advised by the officer in charge no need to bring a solicitor. My husband turns up on the day. He requests a solicitor as he decided it was the best option as he didn't know the outcome. Plus we had been advised to request one once he attended again. Never had one first time around due to not even being aware of anything on the device. Stupid now but always wiser.
So he attends bail to be charged on 2 caterogy c images making of. We have no idea of what this is. His phone was linked up to our laptop and his phone came back clear. But apparently there are 2 caterogy c images on his laptop. The police officer did mention she was concerned about 2 images on my daughter's pc. This was off my daughter n her friend air kissing but the officer said she was concerned about the pics but they weren't classed as indecent.
Anyway my questions are what should we prepare for in his court appearance this will be a plea hearing. Been told the solicitor won't get any paperwork until the morning of the hearing.
What could we be facing? Prison?
I've stuck by him as I know he hasn't done this it's broken him and our girls are devastated? Will even be allowed to live together again as social don't even seem to want to listen or answer my questions.
Sorry for the long post xx
So in 2024 my life was turned upside down due to my husband being arrested of suspicion of downloading indecent images.
We were totally in shock as my husband hates the internet. He only users it for paying bills and downloading songs that we all like. Other than that he doesn't use it. Well they took our family laptop where ive used it he has and our daughter's. Hence with it being a family laptop
They also took my daughter's pc as her dad had used it to put some games off a disc on it. They took his phone iPad and even went to his place of work to take his work laptop.
Because we had children under the age of 18 we had social services involvement. He got arrested in the Jan but took social until April to come and assess us. Id had phone contact where they told me he could come home only when I'm there but can't sleep when the children were there. I'm still waiting on paperwork to confirm all this. I found out in September 24 that social had closed my case but there ruling still applied.
Bail kept getting extended and bail rules still applied. August 25 arrives and we finally get to go bail advised by the officer in charge no need to bring a solicitor. My husband turns up on the day. He requests a solicitor as he decided it was the best option as he didn't know the outcome. Plus we had been advised to request one once he attended again. Never had one first time around due to not even being aware of anything on the device. Stupid now but always wiser.
So he attends bail to be charged on 2 caterogy c images making of. We have no idea of what this is. His phone was linked up to our laptop and his phone came back clear. But apparently there are 2 caterogy c images on his laptop. The police officer did mention she was concerned about 2 images on my daughter's pc. This was off my daughter n her friend air kissing but the officer said she was concerned about the pics but they weren't classed as indecent.
Anyway my questions are what should we prepare for in his court appearance this will be a plea hearing. Been told the solicitor won't get any paperwork until the morning of the hearing.
What could we be facing? Prison?
I've stuck by him as I know he hasn't done this it's broken him and our girls are devastated? Will even be allowed to live together again as social don't even seem to want to listen or answer my questions.
Sorry for the long post xx
The first hearing is to enter a guilty or not guilty plea. Until the solicitor sees the evidence, they will not be able to advise him which to go for.
But category C is the lowest level of images and the fact that there are only 2 of them, makes a prison sentence very unlikely.
But category C is the lowest level of images and the fact that there are only 2 of them, makes a prison sentence very unlikely.
If I'm reading this correctly the two images have been found on a shared family laptop. How do they intend to prove that it is your husband who accessed this, in theory it could be anyone who has access to that device.
Hello, and hope you are bearing up despite being treated shabbily by everyone including lack of communication with you. Not knowing what is going on, along with everything else is so demoralising and anxiety-producing as many of us know from our own experience. I can't comment on the likelihood of prison as that in itself can depend on so many things but as others have said, cat c and so few, is far far less than many of our people have been prosecuted for with no custodial sentence at the end. We are still waiting so I can't give you any personal advice.
However - I did read on here ages ago that the police tried to prosecute someone for normal family photos where the child was undressed (I think it was in a paddling pool on a hot day in their back garden and another where a wife had sent her OH a video of the children doing a silly dance as they were getting ready for bed, so all harmless typical family stuff), so I just wondered if there might be any photos like that on the device? You mention the air kiss (how ridiculous to even mention that to you!) which makes me think they have trawled through your photos. Cat C can be something quite innocent if the police can claim it was there for sexual gratification, which is what they need to claim/prove to get a conviction, as that is the all important outcome they have to aim for nowadays. As a retired police officer, my husband retired because he'd had enough of doing that (he's not the offender in our case)
Hope you get some answers soon, but do continue to ask questions on here although the best thread is the 'general discussion' for replies x
However - I did read on here ages ago that the police tried to prosecute someone for normal family photos where the child was undressed (I think it was in a paddling pool on a hot day in their back garden and another where a wife had sent her OH a video of the children doing a silly dance as they were getting ready for bed, so all harmless typical family stuff), so I just wondered if there might be any photos like that on the device? You mention the air kiss (how ridiculous to even mention that to you!) which makes me think they have trawled through your photos. Cat C can be something quite innocent if the police can claim it was there for sexual gratification, which is what they need to claim/prove to get a conviction, as that is the all important outcome they have to aim for nowadays. As a retired police officer, my husband retired because he'd had enough of doing that (he's not the offender in our case)
Hope you get some answers soon, but do continue to ask questions on here although the best thread is the 'general discussion' for replies x
Thank you all for your replies, yes this is a family laptop, which as a family we all used, it never left the living room.
I've been reading through my husbands paperwork, most of it reads from the officer as I believe not he had or they had but I believe. I was told on the morning of his arrest that in 95% of cases it's a man. They are saying it's the internet that made them aware of it, his phone is clear ipad n work laptop, the work laptop has never even entered our home, it was brought just to use at work as his job requires computer access.
If he gets more than certain amounts of community service he will lose his job and we will lose our home as the house is linked to work. What would be the chances of the judge listening to this and understanding and not leaving me n the children homeless?
The police officer in charge of the case will not engage in any conversation any questions I've had to help me understand what we are up against. She couldn't even come and charge my husband, she sent someone else.
it's just so stressful. I want to add my 19 year old to my supervisor list but social have rejected it saying she's not emotionally mature enough, in case he kicks off but he's never raised his voice and he's not the type to not follow rules,
thank yiu all
I've been reading through my husbands paperwork, most of it reads from the officer as I believe not he had or they had but I believe. I was told on the morning of his arrest that in 95% of cases it's a man. They are saying it's the internet that made them aware of it, his phone is clear ipad n work laptop, the work laptop has never even entered our home, it was brought just to use at work as his job requires computer access.
If he gets more than certain amounts of community service he will lose his job and we will lose our home as the house is linked to work. What would be the chances of the judge listening to this and understanding and not leaving me n the children homeless?
The police officer in charge of the case will not engage in any conversation any questions I've had to help me understand what we are up against. She couldn't even come and charge my husband, she sent someone else.
it's just so stressful. I want to add my 19 year old to my supervisor list but social have rejected it saying she's not emotionally mature enough, in case he kicks off but he's never raised his voice and he's not the type to not follow rules,
thank yiu all
I would suggest a good solicitor could get these charges thrown out unless there is some clear evidence that it was your husband who accessed the images and not someone else who has access to the laptop, as you say multiple people have used it. Them simply saying it’s usually the man and blindly accepting this sets a worrying precedent and I think could be illegal under the equality act as they are discriminating against him based on gender.
I recall a reading about a case on here where a drug user was accused of having IIOC on his phone, however they argued that the phone was frequently given to his dealer as collateral for his drugs and that it could have been them who accessed the illegal material. The case was taken to trial and the jury found not guilty as there was reasonable doubt as to which of the two had accessed it.
I recall a reading about a case on here where a drug user was accused of having IIOC on his phone, however they argued that the phone was frequently given to his dealer as collateral for his drugs and that it could have been them who accessed the illegal material. The case was taken to trial and the jury found not guilty as there was reasonable doubt as to which of the two had accessed it.
The law really needs to change there are so many innocent people getting dragged into stuff in this world.
on our laptop we've never seen anything we shouldnt. we've even asked the children if anything popped up or they looked at something that they shouldn't have and they have said no.
would my husband be able to use us as witnesses? Or will it look like we are just siding with him? Even in paper work. The officer has used words like he was the likely suspect, and I believe he is the suspect,
We are now 20 months in and I feel it's more about the officer getting some sort of result than her saying no further action. He's even been sleeping in his car as he has no where else to go. Police told him to get a Bedsit. They don't care. I guess we find out in 10 days going to be a long road I think?
on our laptop we've never seen anything we shouldnt. we've even asked the children if anything popped up or they looked at something that they shouldn't have and they have said no.
would my husband be able to use us as witnesses? Or will it look like we are just siding with him? Even in paper work. The officer has used words like he was the likely suspect, and I believe he is the suspect,
We are now 20 months in and I feel it's more about the officer getting some sort of result than her saying no further action. He's even been sleeping in his car as he has no where else to go. Police told him to get a Bedsit. They don't care. I guess we find out in 10 days going to be a long road I think?