Ian Martyn Le Gallais (53) appeared before the Royal Court yesterday after the police raided his house in December 2019 and seized his devices. During initial interviews he denied downloading indecent images, but a total of 526 were subsequently found on his computer with another 489 on a back-up storage drive.
Crown Advocate Emma Hollywood, prosecuting, added that analysis of Le Gallais’s devices showed he had been chatting to like-minded individuals online about how they would sexually abuse children. Officers found 40 different Skype chats in which the defendant had shown a keen interest in young children.
Advocate Hollywood added that Le Gallais’s crimes were not victimless, as the viewing and downloading of indecent images of children fuelled and encouraged their production. She then moved for a sentence of three years.
Advocate Julian Gollop, defending, said although his client did not dispute the facts, the proposed sentence put forward by the Crown was too high. In his reasoning, Advocate Gollop said that the sexual abuse Le Gallais had spoken about with others online was ‘pure fantasy and pure roleplay’. He urged the court to recognise that his client had not been charged with any contact offences.
He also referred to similar cases previously heard by the Royal Court, including that of a former honorary police officer in 2016 who was found to have double the number of images on his devices, was sharing the files and was in a position of trust. Advocate Gollop added that despite these additional aggravating factors, the Crown had
moved for a sentence of three years – the same as his client.
He also said Le Gallais, who previously owned a taxi company, had submitted a guilty plea, had provided the PINs for his devices and was of good character, with only a small number of historic motoring offences on his record. Advocate Gollop then called for a sentence of between two and 2½ years.
Lieutenant-Bailiff Anthony Olsen, presiding, said the prosecution had provided descriptions of seven images from Le Gallais’s devices to the court and the children noted within them had been subjected to degrading and vile acts of abuse. He added that after reading the descriptions, both he and the Jurats had felt shocked and saddened.
‘Images such as these are depictions of the most appalling sex crimes committed against children and that is the evil of this offence,’ he said.
He then announced the sentence of 2½ years in prison and added Le Gallais’s name to the Sex Offenders Register for seven years.
The defendant was also made subject to a restriction order which prevents him from living in a household with anyone under 18 and contacting anyone under 16 – among several other conditions.
Jurats Elizabeth Dulake and Steven Austin-Vautier were also sitting.
