The bizarre world of a porn addict

For most people, 40-hours is the average working week.

For pornography addict Scott Jopson, 40 hours - or 42 to be more exact - was how long he spent on the internet each week.

Jopson, 26, was jailed for 20 months yesterday for possessing child pornography after some revealing figures gave an insight into his bizarre world.

Described by Judge Phillip Cooper as a recluse, Jopson had admitted 20 charges of possessing child pornography and six charges of distributing child pornography.

Scattered amongst the 20 possession charges were nearly 3000 child pornography images, some of which he shared with other internet users.

Jopson had admitted he was addicted and had an "unusual fascination" when it came to pornography, his lawyer Andy Schulze told Judge Cooper.

Jopson spent more than 42 hours a week on the internet. Not all the movies he downloaded were pornographic, Mr Schulze said.

Many were, though.

When Jopson's home was searched last July there were 37,105 sex photographs and 1403 "porn" movies discovered.

Thirty-four of the movies depicted children aged eight to 15 in sexual acts.

There were also 2788 child sex photographs, including children as young as six.

The movies and photographs were stored on Jopson's computer and 22 computer discs.


Before he jailed Jopson, Judge Cooper was asked to consider a sentence that would allow him to live with his father, where he would have no access to a computer.

Mr Schulze said Jopson was supported by his parents and sister in court.

However, Judge Cooper said home detention, which confines offenders to a nominated address, was "out of the question".

Judge Cooper said Jopson would have been given a jail term of two and a half years had it not been for his guilty plea.

Jopson's home had been searched after a Department of Internal Affairs censorship inspector searched the internet looking for people trading in child pornography. The inspector detected a New Zealander using the nickname "anonymoususer@KaZaA".

The user was identified as Jopson.