Tintagel publican Jerome Dangar had 'worst images possible'

A publican has been jailed for possessing "the worst images it is possible to imagine", including some of people who died.

Jerome Dangar, 44, was arrested in a raid at the King Arthur's Arms in Tintagel in Cornwall on 2 November.

He previously admitted nine charges of possessing extreme pornography of acts that portrayed threatening a person's life and endangering genitals.

He was jailed for 15 months at Truro Crown Court.

Judge Simon Carr said the 47 images and videos included "the deliberate torture of people who are clearly alive at the beginning and seem to be dead at the end".

He told Dangar, "you clearly have a fascination with these sort of images" and "these offences are in my view the worst of their kind".

Judge Carr said a pathologist who reviewed the videos concluded they "had all the hallmarks of a genuine scene.

"He thinks that at least three of the people being tortured were dead by the end."

The material was found on a mobile phone that was seized in May last year, leading to Dangar's arrest in November.

Prosecuting barrister Philip Lee said the images showed a "pre-occupation with strangulation, stabbing, torture, asphyxiation and death".

Many of the "frequent and repulsive" internet searches involved teenagers and "were perhaps the most extreme one could imagine", he added.

When asked by police about why he had the images, Dangar said: "Don't know really... excitement.

"It's not all about sexual gratification, a lot of it is about intrigue."

The court heard from defence barrister Chris Andrews how Dangar's "reputation in Tintagel was absolutely crushed" and he had "lost everything", including his employment in the family business.

Dangar was sentenced to 15 months for each offence, to run concurrently, and made subject to a sexual risk order. His phone is also to be destroyed.