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| Liam Brewer |
A Herefordshire coach was found with hundreds of indecent images of children on his computer.
Liam Brewer ran 11 football teams for children as young as eight as part of his job.
The 26-year-old pleaded guilty to downloading indecent images of children between June and November 2016.
During this time, Brewer had been working as a manager for United in the Community.
“As a result of information received by police, indecent images of children had been uploaded onto Facebook by a person,” said Timothy Sapwell, prosecuting at Hereford Crown Court last week.
“Facebook linked the pictures to this defendant’s address where he lived with his parents.
“The defendant said that his laptop and hard-drive which were obtained by police included indecent images of children.
“They were found in a folder under the defendant’s name.”
Police found two of the most serious Category A images, 12 Category B and 339 Category C.
When interviewed Brewer, of Hopton Road, Aylestone Hill, Hereford, admitted to making the images.
“He was asked about the source and was rather vague and said he got them from the internet and not used particular sites,” added Mr Sapwell.
The court heard that there were a number of indecent images taken from the social media application, Snapchat.
But there was no proof to suggest that Brewer was in direct contact with the children pictured.
Hereford Crown Court was told the most serious
Category A and B images were typically of young boys aged 12 to 16.
“The defendant was running 11 football teams for children aged from eight up to adults,” said Mr Sapwell.
“Part of his job was to contact children directly via text messages.”
Mark Thompson, mitigating, said that Brewer was no longer working in football.
“He has an impeccable previous character and it is my strong view that he could be rehabilitated,” said Mr Thompson.
"He has taken steps to address his behaviour by paying for private counselling.
“The evidence suggests the majority of the images relate to children in the older teen bracket.
“He is barred from working with children as a result of his conviction.”
Recorder Martin Jackson sentenced Brewer to a community order with the requirements to attend 40 rehabilitation activity days and to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
He was also ordered to complete a community sex offender group work programme.
“It is very concerning that you were the coach of a number of football teams that gave you access and contact with a number of young males under the age of 16,” said Mr Jackson.
“There appears to be the use of an iPhone to access Snapchat.
"You made and distributed them for your own gratification fuelling the exploitation of children.
“You clearly do regret your offending but there is still work to be done in the future to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
A sexual harm prevention order was also imposed for five years.
Brewer was also ordered to pay £350 costs and a further £85 victim surcharge.