Sheffield "monster" caught by police with over 40,000 indecent images of children avoids jail

Sheffield Crown Court heard on September 5 how John Godbehere, aged 51, of Fulwood Road, near Broomhill, Sheffield, had 44,852 indecent images of children on a laptop and 3,944 indecent images of children on a phone at his former family home in Sheffield.

The judge, Recorder Patrick Palmer, told Godbehere: “In December, 2020, you came to the attention of the authorities that images were being uploaded onto the internet from your address. Officers attended your address and found you there.”

Recorder Palmer added the material included 44,852 still and moving images on a laptop and 3,944 still and moving images on a phone, all from categories A to C, and Godbehere and had also been having online discussions with like-minded people.

Godbehere, who has no previous convictions, admitted three formal charges of making indecent images relating to categories A, B and C, with category A being the most serious, from between 2017 and 2020. The defendant also admitted one count of distributing indecent images of a child.

Defence barrister Elizabeth Lambert said: “At some point a few years ago – some many years ago – he developed an unhealthy interest in adult porn and this was turning almost into a daily addiction and he would look at pornography when no one was at home and when he was alone.”

Ms Lambert added: “At some point in 2017 he became desensitised to adult pornography and began to explore the more extreme element of adult pornography and crossed the boundary to look at indecent images of children.”

She said Godbehere had looked at pornography to deal with stress and he then moved to online adult chatrooms where he shared images.

Godbehere, who works for the civil service, described his behaviour as “going down a rabbit hole” and his pre-sentence report revealed how deeply ashamed he is of his offending, according to Ms Lambert.

Ms Lambert said Godbehere would download images and then delete them and suffer with guilt afterwards.

She added the defendant has sought counselling because he “immediately wanted to understand how he had become this monster” and he was referred to a help group.

Ms Lambert said: “He is very fortunate to be supported by his family but he wants to right the wrongs by rehabilitating himself."

Recorder Lambert told Godbehere: “These are despicable and disgusting offences. Each and every one of those children are a genuine victim and that does not appear to have occurred to you until recently.”

He highlighted aggravating factors as the pain and distress suffered by the youngsters in the images, the long period of offending, the high volume of images, and evidence that there had been efforts by Godbehere to hide the images with software.

But Recorder Palmer recognised Godbehere is of previous good character, is remorseful and he has done what he can to put this offending behind him.

He sentenced Godbehere to 16 months of custody suspended for two years with a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.

The defendant was also made subject to the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and he was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same period.