Bury man avoids jail after being caught with animal porn and indecent images of children in Fakenham area

A 29-year-old caught with extreme horse pornography and indecent images of children has avoided jail.

Sam Greenwood was sentenced at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, having pleaded guilty to four offences at an earlier date.

They included possession of an extreme pornographic image which portrayed a person performing oral sex on a horse.

He had also admitted making one Category A indecent photograph of a child - the most serious - as well as one Category B image and four Category C photos.

Greenwood committed the offences back in July 2022, in Walsingham and Fakenham.

They came to light after Norfolk Police received information about an X (formerly Twitter) account being used to upload illicit images of children - some of which had a “strong rape theme”.

The IP address was used to track down Greenwood, with communications via X and SnapChat linking him to the material.

Greenwood, who now lives at Swinton Crescent in Bury, Greater Manchester, shook his head in the dock as the details were read out by prosecutors.

Magistrates handed him a two-year community order, which will require him to complete 25 rehabilitation activity days and 300 hours of unpaid work.

He has also been handed a five-year sexual harm prevention order, and will be subject to a notification period for the same length of time which will require him to provide regular updates to the police.

The two smartphones which Greenwood used to store the images will be forfeited and destroyed.

Mitigating, solicitor Charlotte Winchester said: “He is extremely anxious about these proceedings. He is a man of previous good character.

“He says his life has been on hold since 2022, when he left his employer and has been awaiting sentence.

“He has already made significant changes to the way that he lives his life.”

Ms Winchester said Greenwood no longer owns a smartphone, and feels “ashamed” of his actions.

The defendant will also pay a £114 victim surcharge and £85 in court costs.