Wellingborough military veteran John Ruddock had cache of hundreds of indecent pictures and videos

A Wellingborough paedophile told police he was ‘guilty’ when they knocked on his door to ask him about indecent images on his computer.

Military veteran John Anthony Arron Ruddock said in court that he had been left traumatised by his active service and expressed ‘deep remorse’ for his actions.

Officers knocked on his door in Fowey Close, Wellingborough, on December 12, 2018, after receiving intelligence about his downloading activities.

On his computer were found more than 1,000 of category A pictures – the very worst type of images involving horrific sexual abuse of infants. Officers also discovered 341 category B and 744 category C images as well as videos of people sexually abusing dogs.

He immediately admitted his guilt and admitted in police interview to downloading images using torrents a ‘couple of times a month’ for about four years. But he also said that he didn’t like children and that he had no intention of carrying out any of the acts in any of the videos.

At Northampton Crown Court on August 5, the court heard Ruddock had PTSD from his time in the military.

The court was told he had deep remorse and that he had been ‘struggling to live with this’ for a number of years. Recorder Balraj Bhatia heard that Ruddock was still in a ‘very dark place’.

Ruddock, who had no previous convictions, was placed on the sex offenders’ register for ten years and was given a suspended sentence order ordering him to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work as well as a 25-day rehabilitation requirement.