Jail for man who broke into woman's home to frame husband for child porn

A man has been sent to prison after he attempted to force his way into a female colleague’s life by breaking into her house and framing her husband for downloading child pornography. Ilkka Karttunen, who was born in Finland, became obsessed by a co-worker and hoped that he could forge a relationship with her if he could break up her marriage, jurors at Basildon Crown Court were told.

He sneaked into her home in Southend, Essex, while she and her family were asleep and used the family computer to download images of children being abused, the jury was told. Kartunnen, 48, who denied charges of harrassment, perverting the course of justice and making indecent images of children between December 2008 and March 2009, then stole the computer’s hard drive and sent it anonymously to police with a note stating that it had been taken from his victim’s address.

Suzanne Stringer, for the prosecution, said that police officers went to the house of the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and arrested her husband on suspicion of possession of indecent images of children. “This had a devastating effect on the family as he was given no access to his young children or his home while he was under investigation and he had to live with the trauma of being accused of crimes against young children, of which he is wholly innocent,” she said. Karttunen was arrested and his computer was analysed using specialist software designed for use in terrorist cases.

Miss Stringer said that it was one of the most unusual cases she had ever encountered. “He had been inside the home of his colleague at night whilst the family were upstairs asleep and had downloaded the contents of their home computer. In doing this Karttunnen had hoped to have an innocent man arrested and imprisoned so he could take his place in the family. The lengths this man went to in order to pursue a fantasy were incredible. We only hope the family can now move forward positively with their lives.” Karttunnen denied the charges against him, but a jury convicted him on Friday. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. He was also made subject to a restraining order and has been ordered to sign the sex offenders register.