Droitwich man admits having indecent image of child on his phone

Neville Coe, of Nunnery Avenue, Droitwich, indicated a guilty plea to a single charge of possession of an indecent moving image of a child.

Magistrates in Worcester heard how Coe, 52, had recycled an old mobile phone at an O2 store in October 2017.

Emily Clewer, prosecuting, said: “When the recycling company checked it for defects, they became aware of indecent material and reported it to the police.

“They took it and found one indecent image, moving, of a child.”

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Andrew Wakeman, defending, told the court: “Here you have a guilty plea and full acceptance of it.

“This offence dates back some time, dating back to when the phone was originally handed in for upgrade.

“Mr Coe was interviewed back in October 2018 so it has taken an inordinate amount of time for this matter to get to court when, at least on the face of it, it was fairly straightforward.

“This offence is at the very bottom of the scale, it couldn’t be any less, but the starting point is a low-level community order.”

Magistrates decided not to sentence Coe when he appeared in court on January 16, deciding to wait for him to be seen by probation officers.

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Probation service representative Jayne Stewart asked the court for a three-week adjournment, saying Coe was not known to them.

She said: “We need to know more about him and the offence, as well as how best to deal with him.”

Chair of the bench Gareth Thomas accepted the request for adjournment, allowing for three weeks.

He said: “We are going to ask for a full report so we are adjourning for three weeks.

“Probation will give the court the report and make a recommendation on sentencing so it is important you speak openly with them.”

Coe will be sentenced at Kidderminster Magistrates Court on February 11 and he was granted unconditional bail until that date.