DARRAN ANDREWS SENTENCED IN MAIDSTONE FOR CHILD SEX OFFENCES

In June 2014, Darren Andrews, a 33-year-old salesman from Cambridge Road, Aldershot, was sentenced after traveling over 60 miles from Hampshire to Maidstone, Kent, with the intent to sexually abuse an eight-year-old girl. Court documents revealed that Andrews had communicated online with someone he believed to be the girl’s mother, who was actually an undercover police officer. During the investigation, Andrews arrived in Maidstone carrying a bag that contained stockings, thongs intended for the child to wear, two boxes of condoms, and lubricants.

Shortly after arriving, Andrews was immediately arrested due to an undercover police operation. Upon searching his residence, authorities discovered over 110,000 indecent images and videos depicting children across his computer, mobile phone, and storage devices.

Andrews pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including assisting or facilitating child sex offences, facilitating child pornography, 16 counts of possessing indecent images of a child, and one count of distributing an indecent image.

The court heard that a police officer, posing as the girl’s mother, interacted with Andrews online. Prosecutor John Causer explained that Andrews used the alias “Chris” and initially expressed enthusiasm about the encounter, stating, “That sounds great. I would love her to wear school uniform with, hopefully, a thong. Really excited now. I would like to take some pictures of her.” Andrews also claimed he had “done it before” with a nine-year-old, though there was no evidence to confirm this.

An agreement was made for Andrews to meet at Clackett Lane services on the M25 on January 15, 2014, where he showed the officer an indecent image of a girl around nine years old. Two days later, he agreed to meet at Mote Park leisure centre. When Andrews arrived in his car on the designated day, he was detained by police as he prepared to carry out abuse.

During interviews, Andrews admitted to having an interest in children for several years and exchanging or possessing numerous indecent images over the past year. Judge David Griffith-Jones QC highlighted the extent of Andrews’s depravity, remarking, “The many thousands of pictures you downloaded were plainly not enough to satisfy your urges. It revealed the depth of the depravity to which you were descending. You appear to appreciate you have a deviant sexual interest in children.”

Andrews was sentenced to six years in prison, with an extended licence period of five years. He is required to serve at least two-thirds of his sentence before being considered for release, and his name will remain on the sex offenders register for life.

Peter Forbes, representing Andrews, stated that despite his client’s offending behavior, it was fortunate that he was unable to act on his intentions. “He has been open and ready to acknowledge his unattractive interest in children sexually,” Forbes said. He added, “One thing that does emerge to his credit is his openness. The court can take some comfort for the future. He has not attempted to make any excuses. The court process has brought everything to a head and forced him to confront his failings. The more that can be done to address his offending behavior, the better.”