May 2023 Man jailed over indecent images A man found with dozens of hours of harrowing footage depicting the sexual abuse of young children has been jailed thanks to the hard work of specialist officers dedicated to catching online offenders. We received intelligence that the internet connection at 29-year-old Alex Wood’s address in Milwards, Harlow, had been used to access indecent images of children. Specialist officers with our Online Investigation Team executed a warrant at this address on 5 February 2022, seizing four devices. One of the devices was found to contain a catalogue of footage showing young children being sexually abused. Specialist officers worked to categorise the footage, finding more than 1,200 moving images and 16 still images at the highest Category A. Also found were 792 moving and 27 still images at Category B, alongside 268 moving and 56 still images at Category C. One Category A video involved the abuse of a baby aged between two and three months. Overall, officers graded and categorised more than 100 hours of footage.
Wood was charged with and later admitted three counts of making indecent images of children. Appearing at Chelmsford Crown Court for sentence on Thursday 25 May, he was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment. He was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years and will be the subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order monitoring his use of devices.