May 2005 Sex offender made ‘sick’ videos after visiting town A MAN has been sentenced to three years in prison after admitting travelling to several towns – including Middlewich – to make ‘sick’ films of young girls. When police visited Andrew Botham’s home in Sterne Close, Elworth, Sandbach, they also found almost 100 obscene images of children. He admitted 22 counts of making or possessing indecent images of children dating back to 1990. At Chester Crown Court yesterday, Tuesday, prosecuting counsel Merion Lewis-Jones said Botham had downloaded video files from a website that offered images of children engaged in sexual activity. Botham also travelled to Middlewich with a camcorder concealed in a bag, held at waist level, taking images of young girls’ legs and their underwear. He kept a diary, including descriptions of what he had seen, with entries such as ‘Middlewich, three girls in the street, two outside Dillons’. Defending, Patrick Thompson said: “The prospect of going to prison for him – who has never been before the court for anything before, and because of the stigma attached to these offences – is a terrifying prospect indeed.” Botham, who has been put on the sex offenders’ register and banned from working with children, will have to serve at least 18 months and will then be supervised by probation on release.