Latest Offenders Durham

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Twisted Army Cadet Major Andrew Shaw was snared when his details were picked up by child porn investigators in the USA.

As reported in later editions of last night's Gazette, Shaw, 49, has been jailed for ten years for his role in a sick plot to offer a schoolgirl for sex on the Internet.

The perverted plan, hatched with a man he had never met, sparked a year-long investigation on both sides of the Atlantic.

Police swooped after details of Shaw's sick correspondence with Isle of Wight postman Alan Lawson were passed to the National Criminal Intelligence Service.

He is understood to have been traced via a computer he used in his role as an executive officer with the Cleveland Army Cadet Force.

Shaw was employed by the Reserved Forces and Cadets Association in an administrative role. The Army has stressed that no cadets were involved in this case.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Shaw sent Lawson pictures of himself naked with the girl, while in e-mails Lawson spoke of drugging and sexually assaulting the child.

The pair, who admitted possession and distribution of child pornography, were found guilty by a Teesside jury of conspiracy to rape.

Shaw was jailed in February for 14 years, but the term was later reduced to ten years.

For legal reasons the case could not be reported until yesterday.

Lawson's sentence was cut by the judge from ten years to eight.

Ministry of Defence Police spokesman Steve Partridge said: "This was a wide-ranging inquiry which began after information was passed to the MoD Police following an investigation by the authorities in the US.

"Dedicated officers spent almost a year piecing together the electronic trail of evidence which helped lead to the identification of the two offenders and resulted in their successful prosecution.

"We believe the sentences of ten and eight years handed down by the court adequately reflect the seriousness of their crimes."

A Durham Police spokesman added: "We supported the MoD Police's operation to arrest Shaw and we went with them to his home in Barnard Castle.

"It was an early morning raid after which he was taken to a police station in Durham where he was interviewed by the MoD Police and charged."