A JUDGE deemed that a Bidford-on-Avon man had "suffered considerably" during a five-year wait to answer charges of possessing indecent images of children and handed him a conditional discharge.

Satvinder Gill, aged 62 of The Grange, Bidford-on-Avon, pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme pornography ay Warwick Crown Court.

But after the court heard there had been a five-year delay, and that Gill had been sent the images by members of WhatsApp groups and had not searched for them himself, he was given a conditional discharge.

Prosecutor Graeme Simpson said that in January 2016 a mobile phone had been left by a customer in the bar of the Lord Nelson pub in Alcester.

A few days later, after no-one had returned to retrieve it, a barman charged the phone in an attempt to discover who it belonged to.

Instead he was shocked to find indecent images of children on the phone and contacted the police.

Mr Simpson said the phone contained 23 category A still and moving images showing children being subjected to penetrative sex acts.

There were also 17 category B images of children involved in non-penetrative sexual activity and six other naked or indecent images of children.

In addition, the police found 28 images of extreme pornography showing acts of intercourse with animals.

Gill was eventually traced and when interviewed said he had lost the phone.

He explained that the images were among those sent to him by people in various WhatsApp groups, and that he normally deleted any he found offensive.

Judge Sylvia de Bertodano remarked: “It’s over five years ago. He was arrested in April of this year over something that happened in 2016, how can that be?”

Mr Simpson conceded: “I don’t know. It makes no sense.”

Belinda Ariss, defending, said: “Mr Gill is 62 years old, very much a family man. He is very shocked and embarrassed to find himself in court.

“He does not even recall going into that pub, but he did lose his phone.

“He didn’t realise those images were on the phone because there were two chat groups, and some images which were very close to the mark were sent. He did not seek them out.

“He just received them unsolicited, and laughed if they were funny and deleted them if he found them particularly offensive, and just left the rest.”

Judge de Bertodano observed: “His computers were seized in 2020, and there is no evidence that there has been anything to worry about since 2015.”

Gill was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to register as a sex offender for the same period.

The judge told him: “You have had this hanging over you now for five years, and I can’t explain why it took the police so long to bring this to court, or why you have been waiting all this time.

“It does not seem to me that you are a risk to children. This happened a very long time ago, and it is not your fault you have not been dealt with until now. You have suffered considerably as a result of that.”