A man who is accused of possessing over 7,000 indecent images of children told the jury this morning that he finds child pornography “repulsive” and that he would never download or view such images.

Bobby James Simmons (a U.S citizen), of Ash Tree Lodge, Montagu Gardens, is accused, together with his wife Loren Robles, of the possession of 7,415 indecent images of children and the possession of eight indecent images of children.

Simmons also faces one further charge relating to the possession of one indecent image, a video file which he allegedly brought with him from the U.S. The couple deny all charges.

Simmons gave evidence this morning on the sixth day of a Supreme Court trial. Last week, the jury saw a sample of indecent images but defence counsel David Dumas QC urged them to put out of their minds what they had seen when assessing the credibility of his client.

Simmons, in answer to questions from Mr Dumas, said that it was possible that his computer was hacked and that no computer system, including his own at home, was “100% safe.” He added that even systems running several layers of protection could still be vulnerable to external attacks from malware and viruses.

“I knew there is a possibility that things can come on to your system without your knowledge or consent,” he said.

Simmons also rejected the suggestion that he had entered search terms related to child pornography on a file sharing peer-to-peer programme which investigating officers claim was used to download illegal images.

Under cross-examination from Crown counsel Ricky Rhoda QC, Simmons said he had no idea how the indecent images ended up on his computer’s “E Drive” but that it was possible that either a hacker or a malicious automatic programme was responsible.

Simmons also said that evidence showed that he had stopped using the file sharing programme in question before the images were allegedly downloaded.

The trial continued this afternoon and closing submissions are expected tomorrow.

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