ANTHONY FROM CAMBORNE JAILED FOR EXPLICIT CHILD IMAGES

In 2016, Anthony Michael Lewis, a 36-year-old former bus company employee from Camborne, was sentenced to prison after being convicted of possessing thousands of indecent images of children as young as four being sexually exploited. Lewis pleaded guilty to eight counts of possessing indecent images of children and one count of possessing extreme indecent images.

Truro Crown Court was told that authorities discovered over 6,000 depraved images of children on his computer, with nearly 1,500 classified as Category A—the most serious classification—comprising videos and other explicit content. The court heard that these children were as young as four years old.

Philip Lee from the Crown Prosecution Service stated: "He had accessed child pornography using peer-to-peer software and he had done it for ten years or so. He said that he was particularly attracted to girls of 11 to 15 years of age and he admitted accessing extreme pornography. There was evidence of him using this peer-to-peer software and evidence of him searching for images relating to child pornography."

The court was also informed that the collection of these images spanned over the past two years. Despite his crimes, Lewis fully cooperated with police after his arrest and admitted his involvement.

Judge Simon Carr addressed Lewis, stating: "I accept you are a man of impeccable character apart from these crimes. It is worth noting—though I often say this—that around the world, hundreds of thousands of children are sexually abused because of you and others who download such images. This creates a market, supported by individuals like you. On your computer was found 6,000 images of children, which is an extraordinary number collected over a long period."

Lewis was sentenced to two months in prison for possessing extreme pornography and received ten months for each of the eight child pornography charges, to be served concurrently.