Craig Pilling

Craig Pilling has been sentenced to four and a half years (54 months) imprisonment for possessing indecent images of children.

Piling, 59, of Packet Lane, Carnforth, was sentenced at Preston Crown Court today after he was found guilty of two counts of possessing indecent images of a child.

He also pleaded guilty to breaching his Sexual Offences Prevention Order at an earlier hearing.

Pilling was arrested in August 2012 after it was discovered that he had been in contact with a 16 year old girl from the Lancaster area, who he had met on two occasions when she had been reported missing from home. This was a direct breach of his SOPO which prohibited him from having contact with children under the age of 18.

Speaking at court after the sentencing, DC Colin Gaskell from the Public Protection Unit said: “We are pleased with the sentence given today and hope that, with Pilling behind bars, it means that more youngsters are protected and that this serves as a warning to others who are subject to SOPOs that if you breach the order, we will find you and bring you before the courts.”