A businessman, who was arrested for downloading child pornography during a surprise police raid on his Chichester home, has dodged prison with a suspended sentence.
Dry cleaner and launderette owner Seigfried Wensorra, 59, of Stockbridge Place, who also rents out a string of properties, had a total of sixty-one indecent images.
“These are very serious offences,” bench chairwoman Jan Carr told the defendant at City of London Magistrates’ Court (pictured).
“You have demonstrated a lack of understanding of the impact of abuse or empathy with the victims. You could have reported these images to police, but failed to do so.”
Wensorra pleaded guilty to three sample charges of making 19 indecent images of a child between August 1, 2009 and February 18 and was sentenced to five months imprisonment, suspended for two years.
Officers from City of London Police, armed with a search warrant, seized a laptop, computer tower and computer disks from the south coast property.
Prosecutor Miss Alexa Morgan told the court Wensorra came to police attention on an unrelated matter not proceeded with and his home was searched on February 17.
“The images ranged from nudity or erotic posing to sexual activity between children, solo masturbation and sexual penetrative activity between children and an adult.”
The prosecutor applied for a sexual offences prohibition order explaining: “To protect the problem from serious sexual harm as this activity fuels the market for child pornography.”
When shown the images at the police station and quizzed about possessing them first-time offender Wensorra replied: “no comment.”
Wensorra, who until two years ago was a registered landlord with Chichester College, claims his interest in art, photography and anatomy led him to the images.
He insists he obtained no sexual gratification from the pictures, which were linked to a legal well established website he visited.
The recovering alcoholic, who is also receiving psychiatric treatment, has run the dry cleaning and launderette business for twenty-five years and let properties for the last two decades.
He has previously passed checks carried out by Chichester College and the local council to be an approved landlord.
Wensorra was also ordered to perform 250 hours community service and will be under the supervision of the probation service for two years.
His computers and discs will also be forfeit.
The magistrates made a sexual offences prohibition order, banning Wensorra from using a computer with the ability to show images or download from the Internet or take any photograph of females, including girls under sixteen years-old.
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