A REGISTERED sex offender with a ‘disturbing’ fetish for dressing as a baby continued downloading indecent images of children within months of being sentenced for similar offences.
Zak Markham-Martin from Leamington had been caught after staff at the premises where he was living discovered some of the images on a memory card he had left in the lounge.
He was sentenced to 18 months detention after pleading guilty at Warwick Crown Court to a number of charges of making indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornography.
In addition, the 18-year-old of Leicester Street, who also admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order, was ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.
Prosecutor Matthew Brook had told the court in February last year Markham-Martin had been made subject to a referral order and a five-year sexual harm prevention order for offences of making indecent images of children.
After the hearing he began living in sheltered housing for young adults, where it was noticed he was very withdrawn and spending a lot of time on his laptop.
In August last year he left his memory card in the lounge, where it was found by a member of staff who checked it and found it contained indecent images of children.
It was handed over to the police who found it contained photos and movies, including a number classified as hardcore.
Markham-Martin was charged in relation to those images and entered his guilty pleas in December, after which the case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
But since then the police also examined his laptop and phone, which had also been seized, as a result of which he was charged with further offences to which he also pleaded guilty.
Sarah Allen, prosecuting at a further hearing, pointed out: “At the time of his arrest a number of disturbing items were found, including a baby bottle he drank from, nappies, dummies and children’s underwear.
“They were similar to items found the previous year, and he said he enjoyed items of that type for his own pleasure.”
Nick Devine, defending, said Markham-Martin, whose father was himself sentenced for similar offences last year, had been sexualised from an early age.
Judge Alan Parker told Markham-Martin: “This is a deeply worrying case on a number of levels.
“It’s troubling someone as young as you should engage in the downloading of the material which has been described to me.
“Furthermore, the timing of these offences is truly worrying, because you had been made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order in March last year, and you immediately continued to access the material that had caused that order to be made.
“I am satisfied you knew full well how serious accessing material of this kind was and is. It doesn’t seem to me you have any remorse at all.”
