A “transitioning” pedophile who was previously spared imprisonment after being found with horrific child sexual abuse materials has now been jailed after authorities learned he was hoarding more of the same materials while serving his sentence in the community.
Jonathan Adrian Meadows, 30, was initially arrested in 2019 after attempting to message a 15-year-old girl on social media. The girl was disturbed by his communications and immediately reported them to her adult older sister.
The older sister replied to Meadows in an apparent effort to determine why he was messaging her underage sibling, to which Meadows replied asking asked if she liked “illegal sexual stuff.” He also claimed to have abused children. Police were called and arrested Meadows at his home in the Gower area of Swansea, Wales.
When interviewed by police after his arrest, Meadows claimed to have a “bucket load” of child sexual abuse materials accumulated after “stumbling upon” an illicit website.
On Meadows’ devices, officers found almost 1,000 images and videos of an extreme nature involving the abuse of children and animals, with more than 100 of them being classified as Category A. Images and video in this category can depict penetrative sexual activity, bestiality, and/or sexual sadism.
Police also found that Meadows had initiated hundreds of conversations through social media with the apparent intention of locating other individuals interested in child sexual abuse materials.
According to a 2020 Wales Online report, Meadows was ultimately charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, three counts of distributing indecent images of children, and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images of bestiality. He pleaded guilty to all of the charges, but was spared jail after being handed an 18-month sentence which was suspended for two years.
In the United Kingdom, a suspended sentence indicates that the offender avoids jail completely and is instead released into the community and expected not to commit another offense within a time period specified by the court.
Meadows was also placed under a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention order and is being required to participate in a rehabilitation program.
But Meadows was re-arrested in April of this year after his probation officer noticed some red flags during a routine check-in.
The officer had visited Meadows’ home and inspected his devices, quickly finding he was in breach of his release conditions. Meadows was using social media accounts under names he had not registered with police, including one Discord account in which he called himself “Julie Shepherd.”
According to Wales Live, the prosecutor said the discovery of the unauthorized social media name led the officer to seize Meadows’ electronic devices.
On his phone and a memory card, police subsequently uncovered a total of 95 child sexual abuse images, including 17 pictures and videos which were classified as Category A and showed the most extreme forms of abuse including rape. The collection also included 56 prohibited images, and five images of extreme pornography. During the hearing, the prosecutor stated that the estimated age of the youngest child in the photographs was between six months and one year.
Meadows’ defense attorney stated that there was no “sinister” motive for his client having the Discord handle under the name “Julie Shepherd,” explaining that Meadows was in the process of transitioning to a woman and wanted to change his name.
Meadows ultimately pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images, possession of prohibited images of children, possession of extreme pornography, and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
In June, Meadows appeared at Swansea Crown Court for sentencing, and was chastised by the judge for making light of what had been a “significant chance” to remain in the community with his previous suspended sentence.
With a discount for his guilty pleas, Meadows was sentenced to 21 months in prison, but is only expected to serve up to half of that period in custody before being released with conditions.
He will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years, and the existing Sexual Harm Prevention Order will be maintained.
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