A YOUTH worker has been given a two-year conditional discharge after pleading guilty to making indecent images of children.
Jason O’Hanlon, 24, of Beech Road, Rotherham, entered the plea on what should have been the first day of his trial on Tuesday.
He was also handed a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for two years.
His computer equipment, where the images were found, was ordered to be destroyed.
The Sheffield Star reports that Mr O’Hanlon was employed as a youth worker.
Investigating officer DC Rachel Watts said: “Making indecent images of children is an inexcusable and deplorable crime and will not be tolerated.
“Our priority is to protect vulnerable members of society and we have a number of ongoing operations around the protection of children.
“O’Hanlon will be monitored by South Yorkshire Police’s Violent and Sex Offender Register (VISOR) team, and should he break the law again, he will be back before the courts and faces a custodial sentence.”
O’Hanlon was arrested in 2017 after officers received information to suggest he had been looking at indecent images on his computer.
An investigation was launched and a safeguarding plan put in place working alongside Rotherham Borough Council’s Children and Young People’s Service.
O’Hanlon’s PC was seized and forensically examined, which resulted in a number of images being discovered and a clear indication he had been making the images.
He was charged in September 2017 and appeared at Sheffield Crown Court in November, where he entered a not guilty plea to all three charges.
