Ian Hunter in breach of ban on using computers

A man from Chiswick has been jailed for eight months for possessing pictures of Harry Potter star, Emma Watson.

Although the images were not pornographic, Ian Hunter, aged 59, was in breach of a sexual offences prevention order in downloading them onto a memory stick. The order banned him from having computer equipment as he had previously stalked underage girls online and been convicted of possessing indecent images of children.

The judge at the Inner London Crown Court said that it was Hunter's persistence that warranted another custodial sentence.

In 2007 Hunter pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl and 16 counts relating to pictures of children on his computer.

He used the pseudonym Popcorn Puppydog and pretended to be a female children's author in her twenties on a social networking site.

After gaining the trust of the young teenagers and being able to view their messages as well as photographs of the girls, their friends and their families, he admitted that he was in fact a man in his 50's. Whilst most of the girls rejected him, the few that didn't enabled him to carry on viewing their messages.

From these messages he learnt about a school trip to the Tate Modern and it was here that he was caught on camera by the teenagers eventually leading to his arrest.

Hunter was thrown out by security and when detectives searched his Chiswick home they discovered over 20,000 child abuse and adult porn pictures and magazines.

The investigation also revealed that Hunter had applied for caretaker positions at two London girls' schools as well as communicating with a jailed registered sex offender.

May 23, 2011