Aaron Strachan 26

Description

A children’s gymnastics coach who was found with more than 17,000 indecent images of children has been jailed.

Aaron Strachan was arrested on suspicion of making indecent images of children in August 2024 after police received information that the 26-year-old could have indecent material on his phone.

Officers found a total of 17,147 indecent images of children on the phone, mainly of young or pre-pubescent boys.

These included 6,080 category C images, 6,028 category B images and 5,039 category A images – the most severe.

Also found on the phone were 56 group chats from a messaging app where indecent images were requested and shared, including by Strachan.

In interview, Strachan, of Robertson Way, Sapley, Huntingdon, denied any knowledge of the indecent images found on his phone.

He claimed he had no idea how the material may have got there but then suggested he may have left his phone unlocked and that someone else could have accessed it at work – despite evidence that the images were downloaded, viewed and shared at various times of the day and night over several months.

However, on the day his trial was due to begin, Strachan pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of distributing an indecent image or video.

He was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday (16 October) where he was handed a total of three years and four months in prison.

He was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) for 20 years, to monitor any future offending, and was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

Detective Constable Matthew Walshe, who investigated, said:

“Strachan was found with many indecent images of pre-pubescent boys, while working as a gymnastics coach teaching boys of a similar age.

“While none of the children in the indecent images on Strachan’s phone have been found to be children he knew or worked with, every one of those 17,147 images represents a child who was sexually abused or exploited.

“Strachan’s own safeguarding training will have taught him the horrific consequences such abuse carries for every child.

“Despite the weight of evidence and knowledge of his guilt, he pleaded not guilty to delay justice as long as possible before changing his plea at the beginning of the trial. He is a committed paedophile who is now facing the consequences of his actions, which includes never working with children again.”