Paedophile who stored thousands of indecent images of minors is jailed

Preston Crown Court

Bilaal Saghir, of Providence Street, Blackburn has been jailed for storing thousands of extreme and indecent images of children online. He is said to have bragged about liking incest, according to reports.

Saghir set up accounts online about seven years ago and downloaded more than 1500 pornographic images of minors. 

In June 2020, the police was tipped off and received details of an account that sent out images of child sexual abuse, which turned out to belong to Saghir who used it at his previous address on Whalley Old Road, according to Amanda Johnson, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court.

The officers visited the man’s home with a warrant to interrogate him about the images and he revealed that he ‘possibly’ knew something about them.

Subsequently, all his devices were seized to be analysed by the police. They found over 1,527 indecent images of children saved on cloud storage along with a number of extreme videos involving animals, and folders he had named ‘child porn’, ‘child porn young teens’ and ‘child porn video brutal’.

The police also discovered a chat on Google Hangouts where Saghir mentioned that he was ‘into incest’ and ‘liked young children’.

Defending, Claire Thomas said that Saghir, 29, knew he was out of control but that he had been interested in porn since a young age.

Thomas said, “His behaviour over the past number of years is appalling and he knows that.

“His arrest was perhaps the wakeup call he needed, and he has made significant changes to his life since then.”

She revealed that Saghir had stopped misusing drugs and alcohol since then and has got married and is trying to get his wife over to the country.

Thomas said that his wife did not yet know about his offending and that he was waiting for his sentence to tell her.

Judge Guy Mathieson, sentencing, said due to the ‘amount, the level and the distressing nature’ of the images, he had no option but to send Saghir to jail for 18 months.

Judge Mathieson said, “You delighted in the misery of babies – their physical abuse for your sexual gratification.

“You built up a collection of the most distressing images you could find.

“Your interest in rape fantasies is horrific.

“You say your arrest came as a relief – it means you would never have stopped.

“This is something which is part of you.”

Saghir previously pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images, three counts of making indecent photographs and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

He was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for seven years and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for six years.