A former North Yorkshire Head Teacher "developed a corrosive interest in child pornography".
Matthew Shillito, 43, of Gordon Avenue, Harrogate, was convicted of two offences of making indecent images of children when he appeared at York Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 10th August 2022.
His conviction followed a trial at Harrogate Magistrates' Court on 21st and 22nd July 2022.
Making an indecent image of a child is an offence under section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978. It is an either way offence with a maximum penalty of 10 years' custody on conviction on indictment, 12 months' custody and/or an unlimited fine on summary conviction.
It should be stressed that in addition to its literal meaning "making" includes viewing such material on the web, as that results in the image being cached into the memory of the device.
Shillito was most recently the Head Teacher of Harrogate's Western Primary School, but he was suspended from that role when the allegations came to light.
Prior to that he was the Head Teacher of the Federation of Goldsborough and Sicklinghall Primary Schools, also in North Yorkshire. Prior to that he was Deputy Head Teacher of Prior Oak Primary School in Leeds.
It should be stressed that there is no suggestion that any children at those schools were involved in the images.
Philip Morris, prosecuting at the trial, told the court that indecent images of children were found in the cache of Shillito's computer. It is not clear how Shillito's offences came to light in the first instance.
Mr Morris said: "It is the prosecution's case that those images found as they were on the computer cache were present as a result of the user of the computer accessing indicative content on the internet."
Ms Worboys said that her examination revealed images from a Russian website, which had been visited on at least 30 different occasions. The site in question allows users to upload and share indecent images of children.
In total police found 3,829 category C images and 20 category B images cached in the memory of Shillito's devices. Category B images depict children engaged in non-penetrative sexual activity; category C images depict children in sexual poses. The sickening stash was collected between 2007 and 2015.
An interrogation of Shillito's devices also yielded Google search history indicative of browsing for indecent images of children.
Shillito denied the allegations throughout, claiming he had been looking for holiday photos and had an interest in naturism. During police interviews he also offered the explanation that he had been searching for teaching materials for sex education lessons at his school.
Kevin Blount, defending, told the court that although the search terms had a connection to indecent images of children, they also yielded many perfectly innocent search results.
Mr Blount also said that the category B images were such a small proportion of the total that statistically Shillito may not have even viewed them.
At the end of the second day of the trial District Judge Adrian Lower adjourned the case to consider his decision.
At Wednesday's hearing Shillito was convicted, DJ Lower confirming that he was sure the former Head Teacher had committed both offences.
Addressing Shillito, DJ Lower said that the evidence showed he had "corrosive, addictive interest in child pornography".
The District Judge ordered the preparation of a pre-sentence report ahead of Shillito's sentencing hearing at York Magistrates' Court on Friday, 9th September 2022.
Shillito, who was warned that all sentencing options remain on the table, was granted unconditional bail until the next hearing.
Update (9/12/22): Shillito has now been sentenced.
Update (11/6/24): Shillito banned from classroom.
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