JOHN RUMSEY JAILED IN CHELTENHAM FOR DISTRIBUTING CHILD SEXUAL IMAGES IN MARCH 2012

In March 2012, John Rumsey, a 78-year-old tutor from Cheltenham, was sentenced to nine months in prison after admitting to downloading and sharing thousands of indecent images of children. Rumsey pleaded guilty to ten charges concerning a total of 4,027 images found on his computer. A tutor who had helped sixth form students gain entry to Oxford and Cambridge, Rumsey was found to have downloaded and shared some of the most severe categorized images depicting child sexual exploitation.

Prosecutor Mary Harley told Gloucester Crown Court that an investigation by South Wales police connected Rumsey, residing at Walnut Close in Cheltenham, to these illicit images on a file-sharing website. She explained, “On June 11 last year, his home was searched, and computer equipment was seized. Mr Rumsey was arrested following the discovery of images, seven and a half percent of which were classified as the worst levels four or five in severity.” Harley added, “All images had been downloaded from internet sites, and none of the victims had been identified. Mr Rumsey was using the internet to share images with others, including comments indicating sexual gratification from viewing material depicting the sexual exploitation of children.”

Rumsey was described as having been of good character in the past. During sentencing, the court was informed that Rumsey had taken steps to distance himself from tutoring minors under 18. Defense counsel Paul Trotman requested that the sentencing be adjourned so Rumsey could support a student on the brink of achieving admission to Oxford, but Judge William Hart rejected this request.

Trotman argued that the well-known file-sharing website involved was frequently used to share various types of files. He noted, “During the downloading process, Rumsey organized the files into subfolders, which complicates the claim of accidental download,” and added that Rumsey denied engaging in commenting exchanges and alleged his computer might have been hacked.

He further emphasized that Rumsey had no history of approaching young students in his twenty years of tutoring. “There is no suggestion that he ever made any inappropriate advances,” Trotman stated.

Judge Hart imposed multiple concurrent sentences totaling nine months and described Rumsey as being in complete denial about his unhealthy sexual interests involving children. Additionally, the judge issued a 10-year sexual offences prevention order and ordered Rumsey to register as a sex offender for the next decade.