Daniel Frogson, who played Tony Costa in His Dark Materials, has been found guilty of downloading sickening child abuse pictures.
The actor, who was nominated for a BAFTA for CBBC show Joe All Alone, viewed 848 indecent images. These included 165 of the most serious category. This category typically shows adults raping children.
Daniel, who is now 21, had been accessing the images since the age of 17. At Nottingham Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to the possession of indecent images.
His Dark Materials actor Daniel Frogson guilty of downloading indecent images of children
He was handed an eight-month jail sentence, but he won’t serve that behind bars. Instead, it will be suspended for 24 months. He will also attend a 43-day sex offender’s rehabilitation programme. Daniel will also have to attend 15 further rehabilitation sessions.
The images I have seen are sickening.
He will also be placed on the sex offender register for 10 years. The actor was also given a five-year sexual harm prevention order by judge Steve Coupland.
‘Sickening’
Handing down the sentence, according to Nottinghamshire Live, the judge said: “The images I have seen are sickening. Each of them is a real child being abused for the pleasure of someone like you watching.
“It is made worse because of the number of them – there were 848 indecent images – and it is made worse by the length of time you were doing it. You told the probation officer you do not have a sexual interest in children. I don’t accept that.”
The court heard that police were first alerted to child abuse images being downloaded from an IP address in Nuthall, Nottinghamshire, where Frogson was living, in early 2023.
‘No comment’
Prosecuting, Nicola Patten said: “Two devices were seized and the defendant was arrested. On them were 165 category A images, 88 category B and 592 category C. There were also three prohibited images of children and search terms showing a sexual interest in children.”
She added: “He was interviewed twice in 2023 and on both occasions answered ‘no comment’ to the questions he was asked.”
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