Locations
Church Street, Clifton, Shefford, Bedfordshire, SG17
Description
A Bedfordshire paedophile who sexually assaulted a young girl also downloaded thousands of disturbing child sex abuse images of children as young as eight years old.
Justin Sandilands, of Shefford, Bedfordshire, has been jailed for four years for sexual assault and downloading child sex abuse images onto his computer and other devices.
Police found the material after visiting Sandilands’ home in September 2019.
Officers had gone to the address in Church Street, Shefford, after receiving information that he had been viewing the material.
Luton Crown Court heard that when the items seized were examined it was found Sandilands had 36 Category A images of young people - some as young as eight - being abused.
This is the level given to the very worst depraved material found online.
He also had 123 Category B images - the next most serious category - and thousands of Category C images.
Officers could see the search terms Sandilands had been using to seek out the sickening material on the internet, some of which included moving images of child sex abuse.
In court on Friday, August 13, he appeared for sentence having earlier pleaded guilty to sexual assault on a child, three offences of making indecent images of a child and one offence of possessing a prohibited image.
Judge Gary Lucy jailed him for a total of four years and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the devices on which the material had been found.
Sandilands was also told he would be made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order which will, once he is released, monitor his internet use.