R v Simon Smith

Facts

The appellant, Simon Smith, then aged 36, had been sentenced at Norfolk magistrates' court on 23 March 2022 for possessing or making indecent images of children — 154 category A, 12 category B and 8 category C images and an extreme pornographic image — receiving a 12-month suspended sentence with programme and unpaid work requirements and a five-year sexual harm prevention order. He breached the suspended sentence twice and in May 2023 it was activated in part, with 10 months to serve. On 18 March 2025 he failed to comply with the annual notification requirement despite three and a half weeks of chasing emails from the Public Protection Unit; a warrant issued and he was arrested at his home in Suffolk on 10 April 2025. The search revealed an unnotified bank card, a laptop and a Samsung phone, neither device having been reported as the sexual harm prevention order required; the phone held three category A images of young boys and a further image treated as category B. He also possessed amphetamine and failed to surrender to Ipswich Crown Court on 8 July 2025. Having pleaded guilty in the magistrates' court and been committed for sentence, he was sentenced on 11 August 2025 by Ms Recorder Sally O'Neill KC to 3 years 4 months' imprisonment in total. The Single Judge granted leave on the sole basis of totality.