ASHOK RANA FROM CRAWLEY SENTENCED FOR POSSESSING OVER 124,000 CHILD INDECENT IMAGES

In a disturbing case that has shocked the community of Crawley, Ashok Rana, a 41-year-old employee of BT, was sentenced to a total of 22 months in prison after admitting to possessing an alarming and extensive collection of indecent images of children. The sentencing took place at Hove Crown Court, where the court was informed that the sheer volume of images was so vast that police officers found it impossible to categorize all of them.

During the proceedings, it was revealed that Rana’s collection included over 124,000 indecent images, among which 201 were classified as Category A, indicating the most severe level of abuse. Additionally, there were 76 Category A movies, which depicted acts of rape and torture involving children who were screaming and crying. The court was told that Rana had previously pleaded guilty to these offenses during an earlier hearing, acknowledging the gravity of his actions.

Legal representatives and court officials discussed Rana’s apparent inability to control his impulses, emphasizing that he “cannot help himself” and is “unable to control himself” when it comes to acquiring and possessing such material. The images included children as young as three years old, highlighting the disturbing nature of his collection.

In her sentencing remarks, Ms. Sarah Elliott, the Recorder presiding over the case, expressed her careful consideration of the facts. She described the case as “tragic” and underscored the danger such offenses pose to children, stating that “these types of crimes put children at risk.” Despite the reprehensibility of Rana’s actions, she acknowledged that he is “a decent member of society” in other respects, with a supportive family, and suggested that he could have contributed positively to society under different circumstances.

Throughout the hearing, Rana’s sister was present in the public gallery and was visibly distressed, breaking down in tears when the court passed sentence. It was also revealed that Rana was in breach of a previous four-month suspended sentence, imposed by Lewes Crown Court, which he had failed to comply with. Furthermore, he was found to be in violation of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, having used six devices without the required monitoring software.

Ms. Elliott sentenced Rana to 12 months for the possession of Category A images, eight months for breaching the Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and activated the two-month suspended sentence, to run consecutively. Additionally, Rana received an eight-month sentence for possessing Category B images and a four-month sentence for Category C images, with these latter sentences to run concurrently. The court ordered that Rana will serve half of the total 22 months in custody and will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the next ten years, reflecting the seriousness of his offenses and the ongoing risk he poses to children.