paedophile avoids jail despite enormous 50,000 child abuse picture collection

PAEDOPHILE AVOIDS JAIL DESPITE ENORMOUS 50,000 CHILD ABUSE PICTURE COLLECTION

A pensioner from East London with a history of paedophilia was discovered to possess over 50,000 illicit images of children stored across various electronic devices.

Despite his conviction in court, he was not imprisoned as his jail term was suspended by the judge.

Michael Aitken, aged 67 and resident in Poplar, had an extensive collection of child abuse material stored on 22 different digital storage units, including three hard drives, a laptop, and a desktop PC.

He was detained in March 2016 following a raid by the National Crime Agency at his residence, where officers uncovered evidence of his vast archive.

During the investigation, authorities identified that Aitken uploaded 840 indecent files between November 23 and 25, 2017.

The investigation traced his IP address back to his home in Tower Hamlets, where he lived alone.

He was taken into custody on March 6, 2018, and questioned but declined to comment.

At Snaresbrook Crown Court on October 10, he received a sentence of 10 months imprisonment, which was suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for a decade and was subject to a sexual harm prevention order.