Paedophile sent extreme net child-abuse images

A COMPUTER engineer has been jailed for sending extreme child-abuse images to other paedophiles on the internet.

Keith Gibson, 50, was found with more than 2,300 photos and movies after police were alerted by colleagues in the national Child Exploitation and Online Protection squad in London.

He was jailed after a judge at Exeter Crown Court told him his activities amounted to the worst case of child pornography he had encountered.

Gibson formed part of an internet paedophile ring which exchanged child sex fantasies and images in chat rooms where some posed as children.

Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk

myprint-247

View details

Print voucher

Our heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.

Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk

Contact: 01858 468192

Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013

The victims of the abuse included babies under six months old and two of the movies he distributed showed girls aged about three and 10 being raped.

Gibson featured on news reports which were distributed all over the world last month when he was one of the victims of the severe flooding which hit Kennford, near Exeter, just before Christmas.

He gave interviews in which he presented himself as showing the Blitz spirit and battling through without giving any hint that he was facing serious criminal charges.

Gibson, formerly of Milford Cottages, Kennford, now of River Drive, Cullompton, admitted 10 offences of making indecent images of children, four of distributing them and two of possessing prohibited or extreme images.

He was jailed for two years by Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, who told him: "You accept you have a sexual interest in children and you had sexual conversations about child abuse on the internet.

"You did not care if you were talking to adults or children and you fantasised you were talking to children. You distributed this child-abuse material without thought of who was receiving it or whether they were adults or children.

"The probation report says your behaviour was premeditated, planned and persistent and that you went to significant lengths to avoid detection, and you had no regard for the children who were being abused.

"These charges are extremely serious. In my judgment, this is one of the most serious cases of this type I have ever come across in a long career on the bar and the bench."

David Bowen, prosecuting, said Gibson ran a computer repair business at his former home in Kennford where police seized a large amount of equipment in his house and outbuildings.

He said police experts found 1,682 still images and 638 movies of which 445 images and 427 movies were in categories four and five and showed sadism or children being forced to have sex with adults.

Mr Bowen said: "He volunteered to be interviewed and said he had a sick interest in children. Police found a large amount of communications in chat rooms which was entirely to do with distributing child abuse images."

The material featured girls aged from under six months to 12 and two of the movie clips he distributed showed girls aged between two and four and eight and 12 having sex with adults.

Nick Bradley, defending, said Gibson now recognised he had a problem with his sexual interest in children and wanted to receive treatment to prevent him offending again.

Mr Bradley said: "He deserves credit for the cooperation he gave to the police, his guilty plea at the earliest opportunity, and his brutal frankness in interview."