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Jailed: Court rejects ice-use plea of Michael Reece Britton, who shared images of sleeping girls

AN ICE user who took pictures of sleeping young girls and shared them with other deviants online cannot blame the drug for his depraved and brazen crimes, the District Court has heard.

Adelaide’s Lunchtime Newsbyte 29/6/2018

AN ICE user who took pictures of sleeping young girls and shared them with other deviants online cannot blame the drug for his depraved and brazen crimes, the District Court has heard.

Michael Reece Britton was jailed for four-and-a-half years with a non-parole period of two years and three months after pleading guilty to charges of producing, possessing and disseminating child pornography material.

Britton, 31, abused the trust of two female friends by taking photographs of their daughters, aged eight and 10 at the time, in Adelaide’s northern suburbs in 2016 and 2017.

Police first charged Britton after he posted a photo of himself online with a toy gun in his mouth, before they searched his mobile phone and found numerous images and videos of child exploitation stored on the device.

“One of the children depicted in the video was identified by your-then (friend) as being her 10-year old daughter. You took the photograph in the bedroom at her home address while the child was asleep,” Judge Wayne Chivell said.

Despite being granted bail after his initial offending, Britton committed an audacious and almost-identical crime several months later.

Britton stole a mobile phone from a mutual acquaintance and used it to take another set of secret photographs, this time of another sleeping girl aged just eight.

Judge Chivell said Britton admitted he was heavily using ice, or methamphetamines, at the time of the offences, but agreed with a forensic psychologist that his crimes stemmed from “paedophilic tendencies” towards young girls.

“Whilst I accept that the drug may have disinhibited you to some extent, you cannot hide behind drugs for this offending,” Judge Chivell said.

“You had plenty of time to change your behaviour after 2016 but you did not, and you must take responsibility for that.”

Britton had no prior offences of a sexual nature or against children, and his most serious conviction came after he broke into a cafe at night while drunk before eating several doughnuts and falling asleep until he was found by early-shift workers.

Judge Chivell said Britton’s lack of prior offending was outweighed by the disturbing and predatory nature of the child pornography charges.

This left him no option but to impose an immediate jail term.

Judge Chivell said it was likely, but not certain, that Britton would be given sexual offender rehabilitation treatment in prison before he becomes eligible for parole in mid-2019.

Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/jailed-court-rejects-iceuse-plea-of-michael-reece-britton-who-shared-images-of-sleeping-girls/news-story/0d43a0d9c86ed2e42cebc47e5320e735