PAUL BAKER FROM GILLINGHAM JAILED FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OFFENSES

In a serious case that has shocked the community of Gillingham, Paul Baker, a 48-year-old railway guard, has been sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of possessing a vast collection of indecent images of children. The case came to light following a series of investigative steps that revealed Baker’s disturbing activities involving the downloading and collection of explicit material.

According to court proceedings, Baker had amassed a collection of over 3,000 images depicting children in sexually explicit situations. The investigation was initiated after staff at a local building society in Gillingham noticed that Baker had accidentally dropped a piece of paper. This paper contained a handwritten list of website addresses associated with child exploitation, which immediately raised suspicion among the employees.

Further inquiries revealed that police had also received a tip-off indicating that two email addresses, which could be traced back to Baker, had been used to access these illegal websites. Despite the warning signs, Baker did not report his activities to authorities himself, claiming that he intended to pass on the information to the police once he had gathered enough evidence. His knowledge of the websites was so extensive that, during police interviews, he was able to recite most of the site names from memory.

When questioned, Baker admitted to 20 separate offenses related to the creation and possession of indecent images of children, spanning from March 1998 to June 2005. His laptop was seized and examined, revealing a total of 3,411 images stored digitally, along with five printed photographs of young girls who appeared to be pre-teen and naked. Despite the severity of the material, Baker insisted he was not a pervert, claiming, “I just like looking,” during his arrest.

Prosecutor Ian Foinette explained that Baker believed he had not committed a crime because he had not paid for access to most of these websites, leading him to think that viewing them was not illegal. The images ranged in severity from level one to level five, with level five being the most serious. Baker also described himself as “a great advocate” for stopping such websites, a statement that court officials found particularly disturbing given the evidence against him.

During the trial, Baker’s defense lawyer, Caroline Knight, highlighted that Baker, who had trained as a nurse in the armed forces, had not distributed the images nor gained any financial benefit from his actions. She expressed her client’s fear of imprisonment and the potential disowning by his elderly father. Additionally, Baker has been suspended from his employment as a railway guard.

Judge Philip Statman sentenced Baker to two years in prison and imposed an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order. This order prohibits him from owning or using any computer equipment and from being in the company of children under 16. Furthermore, Baker was disqualified indefinitely from working with children and is required to register as a sex offender for the next ten years. The judge remarked that Baker was “a hair’s breadth” away from receiving an indeterminate sentence, underscoring the gravity of his offenses and the community’s need for protection.