Child abuse material consisting of written descriptions of sexual acts with real children under the offender's care is significantly more serious than material involving imaginary children, because it gives rise to a heightened, immediate and specific risk to those children. An aggravated indecent assault involving direct genital contact by a step-parent with a child aged under two years, committed in the child's home, is properly assessed as an offence of the highest order of gravity. The gravity of an offence cannot be mitigated by reference to the absence of features that would have constituted a more serious crime.
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