BRIGHTLINGSEA PERVERT CLIVE MARS JAILED FOR CHILD IMAGE SCANDAL IN THE DARK WEB

In February 2022, a disturbing case emerged from Brightlingsea involving Clive Mars, a 67-year-old man whose actions have shocked the local community and law enforcement alike. Mars, a Gulf War veteran residing at Waterside Marina in Brightlingsea, was found to have engaged in extensive online searches on the dark web, specifically targeting illicit images of children. His activities culminated in the collection and storage of over 20,000 indecent images, a revelation that prompted a serious legal response.

Authorities conducted a thorough raid on Mars's residence, during which they confiscated numerous storage devices, including 24 USB drives and a 125-gigabyte hard drive. These devices contained a vast trove of illegal material, with images categorized into various levels of severity. Specifically, investigators uncovered more than 16,000 images classified as Category C, approximately 3,000 at Category B, and around 2,200 at the most severe Category A. Additionally, over 2,000 movies depicting child abuse at Category A were recovered, highlighting the extent of Mars's disturbing collection.

Further evidence revealed that Mars had taken his own images of two children using a hidden camera, which he had installed to secretly record victims. These recordings were stored alongside his collection of illicit images, indicating a pattern of predatory behavior. The police reports detailed that Mars had actively catalogued these images, demonstrating a deliberate effort to organize and possibly revisit the material for personal gratification.

During court proceedings at Chelmsford Crown Court, Mars pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including three counts of possessing indecent images of children, one count of taking an indecent image of a child, five counts of voyeurism, one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child, and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images. The presiding judge, Christopher Morgan, expressed a firm opinion that an immediate custodial sentence was necessary given the gravity of the offenses.

Judge Morgan sentenced Mars to 27 months in prison, emphasizing the severity of his crimes. He stated, “You deliberately searched, you used the dark web. The result of your searching was the collection of these images.” The judge further highlighted the disturbing nature of the material, noting that the images depicted children as young as one year old, which he described as an aggravating factor. “It is quite plain the young ages of these children is an aggravating feature within the Category A images,” he said. The judge also pointed out that these images were not simply viewed and then deleted; instead, Mars had actively catalogued and stored them across multiple devices, including USB sticks, indicating a calculated and ongoing engagement with the material.

This case underscores the ongoing efforts of law enforcement to combat online child exploitation and the importance of vigilance in protecting vulnerable children from such heinous crimes.