Child-sex images shame of coach

AN Oldham businessman whose passion in life was to coach youngsters at the sport of table tennis, had a sinister side to his character, a court was told.

Peter Aspin (54), who coached youngsters at all levels in the sport, had built up a collection of “revolting” sexual pictures of children, at his home.

Police seized more than 70 indecent photographs, and 20 DVDs containing moving images, when they raided his address in Manchester Street, in March.

As a result, company manager Aspin had to resign from his job, and can no longer be involved in coaching in the sport he loved.

Aspin, who coached all levels up to county level on a voluntary basis, giving up his evenings and weekends, had been a committee member of the Oldham Table Tennis League, and an executive member of the Lancashire Committee.

He pleaded guilty at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court to 12 charges of possessing indecent images.

Judge Jeffrey Lewis said he saw little point in an immediate prison term because Aspin would receive little or no help for his problem while locked up.

The judge wanted to impose a suspended sentence to reflect the gravity of the offences, but was unable to do so because he wanted Aspin to take part in a specialist three-year sex-offenders’ programme, and the law restricted a suspended prison term to two years.

Aspin, of Summervale House, Manchester Street, has now been made subject of a community order, with a requirement that he attend the specialist Northumbria Sex Offenders Project.

Judge Lewis who viewed some of the images recovered, said: “For many years you must have been highly regarded in the world of table tennis in which you coached youngsters.

“Nobody could be blamed for thinking perhaps they knew the reason why — in order to get close to children. The fact remains that during the course of your involvement with the sport, nobody as much as suggested you ever committed any offence with a child.

“That apart, there was clearly another aspect to your life, and you indulged yourself in viewing indecent images of children.”

He told him: “I am long passed being shocked by anything I see, or by anything people do to each other, but having seen some of these images, revulsion is the correct word to use.”

He added: “There is no suggestion that you took pictures yourself, but you were a consumer who causes others to produce this kind of material.”

Mark Angus prosecuting, said police raided Aspin’s workplace and his home in March this year after being tipped off about the picture collection.

Of the 73 photographs found, eleven were classed as bordering on extreme and 12 of the DVDs were classified at the same level.

Police also recovered travel documents which made it clear that Aspin had planned to make a trip to Thailand just days after he was arrested.

Aspin had one previous conviction, an indecent assault on an under-age child when he was 22. He received a six-month suspended sentence.

Steve Sullivan, defending, said Aspin had to resign from his job as a company manager because of the pending court case.

His other passion was coaching table tennis, which he had done on a voluntary basis at evenings and weekends time.

He said Aspin had not sought to minimise what he had done, and accepted he had a problem.