September 2023 Convicted sex offender had secret stash of computer devices with hideous photos   A convicted sex offender ordered to declare his internet enabled devices failed to do so. And when police checked up on him they discovered he had a secret stash of devices, some of which contained a depraved collection of child sexual abuse images. In 2019 St John Ambulance volunteer David Cardwell was jailed for 11 months after pleading guilty to three charges of attempting sexual communication with a child as well as possessing prohibited images of children after he was caught and exposed by a paedophile hunting team He was told to register as a sex offender. Crucially, he was also handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) designed to stop him reoffending. Yesterday (September 6) Cardwell, 56, whose address was given as Beaufort Road in St George, was back at Bristol Crown Court on a video link from HMP Bristol having admitted two breaches of the SHPO. He also pleaded guilty to making 1,749 indecent images of children. Judge Michael Longman jailed him for three years. He told Cardwell: “These breaches were deliberate and substantial. On two devices indecent images of children were found and you have pleaded guilty to making indecent images.” The judge ordered Cardwell to notify on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely. He sanctioned the destruction of Cardwell’s offending devices as well as a new SHPO designed to stop reoffending. Neil Treharne, prosecuting, said police had trouble locating Cardwell to check his compliance with his SHPO. After discerning his car registration number they established he had apparently moved to office accommodation, where he told them he had just two phones. Further investigation revealed he had a plethora of devices comprising of 27 mobile phones, six laptop computers and eight computer tablets, Mr Treharne said. Police found child abuse images on mobile phones deemed to be in all three harm categories. Update: Cardwell was jailed for ten months for the three counts of attempting sexual communication with a child and given another month for possessing the images, to run concurrently. He will have to serve at least half of the sentence before he is eligible for release. He was also made to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and handed both a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and Barring Order. His Acer laptop will be destroyed. June 2019 NHS agency worker used online chats to try to find underage girls to abuse A St John Ambulance volunteer pictured himself in uniform on an online dating website in an attempt to find underage girls to abuse. But unbeknown to David Cardwell he was actually having lewd chats with adult women acting as paedophile hunters. NHS agency worker Cardwell, 52 and of Sunnyside Avenue in Weston-super-Mare, pleaded guilty to three charges of attempting sexual communication with a child as well as possessing prohibited images of children. He was due to be sentenced today (June 6) but Judge Mark Horton adjourned the case until June 28, for the exact categorisation of Cardwell’s sordid image stash to be determined. The judge also reminded parents and children of the dangers of online chat groups. He said: “All you have to do with some websites is tick you are over 18, that is all that’s required.” Kenneth Bell, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court Cardwell went on to the Oasis dating website and chatted to who he thought were three girls. But it transpired the 12, 13 and 14 year olds he spoke to were fictitious names, and were actually adult paedophile hunters posing as girls. Mr Bell said Cardwell – an operating department practitioner – used the identity “Medic 112999” when he engaged in explicit conversations with the supposed children. Mr Bell told the court Cardwell’s intention was to have sexual intercourse with all three. However sex with someone under the age of 16 cannot be consensual by law and is illegal. In one chat, Cardwell asked one of the girls: “Have you ever seen c**k? “I would love to see a photo of you. “I love your young body, I’d love to see it. “I wish you were here.” Police called in arrested Cardwell and he declined to comment. Some 15 “prohibited” images stored on his mobile phone included cartoons depicting children as young as four being abused. The cartoon images were sampled from more than 2,000 such images in his possession, the court heard. May 2019 Online groomer admits child sex offences after sting A man caught in a vigilante sting trying to groom someone he thought was a child has admitted all four charges against him. David Cardwell, 52, of Sunnyside Road, Weston-super-Mare pleaded guilty to three counts of an adult attempting to engage in a sexual communication with a child. Cardwell also admitted possessing 1,214 prohibited images of children. He appeared at Bristol Crown Court where sentencing will be held in June. Cardwell was caught out by the group Justice for the Innocent after he tried to engage in sexual conversations with people purporting to be aged 13, 14 and 12 years old on three different occasions last year. The communication involved talking to the people he thought were children about sleepovers, cuddles in bed and kisses, the charge sheet stated. The group said: “The evidence collected in this case demonstrated sexual grooming of a slow nature with months of chat logs collected.” He was arrested after being confronted by members of the group last year.