October 2008 Pervert held 46 indecent images A paedophile contact of disgraced former police chief Alec Alexander was caught with nearly 50 pornographic images of children. Anthony Philip Ashmore, 53, of Anlaby, was discovered to have 46 indecent images of children on three computers at his home after it was searched as part of the investigation into Alexander. Alexander was jailed for 10 years in August for abusing and raping his eldest daughter and storing almost 66,000 pornographic images of children on his computer. Ashmore received a community order at Hull Crown Court yesterday after pleading guilty to seven counts of possessing indecent images of children at an earlier hearing. The court heard officers investigating Alexander had analysed the former chief superintendent’s phone records after arresting him in January. They discovered he had made a phone call to Ashmore on September 7 last year and suspected they had a shared interest in child pornography after finding no obvious connection between the two men. During a search of Ashmore’s home on March 3, police seized three computers which were later found to contain the images. The images found were in categories one to four of the scale for grading child pornography. The scale has five categories with one being the lowest and five the most serious. The court heard Ashmore initially told police they would not find any images on the computers and later tried to blame his son for the images after they were discovered. His solicitor Robin Smith told the court although Ashmore was one of Alexander’s contacts, there was no evidence to suggest the pair had shared images. Mr Smith said Ashmore had become depressed following the death of his mother and the end of his marriage. He said: “He started drinking heavily and accessing pornography. Clearly that has extended to the images your honour is aware of.” Sentencing Ashmore, The Honourable Mr Justice Peregrine Simon said: “These are serious crimes because they indirectly cause harm to children. “People who are interested in viewing these images are satisfied by people who are prepared to subject children to extreme sexual abuse and other cruelties.” Ashmore was made subject of a community order with a three-year supervision requirement and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years.