September 2008 Pervert sent to jail after police find child porn A pervert who downloaded hundreds of images of children being sexually abused was caught when police raided his home looking for drugs. Officers found a small amount of cannabis in Paul Matthews’ home but also seized a number of computer disks. On one of them was a huge stash of child pornography which Matthews had downloaded in 2003. They found a total of 697 indecent images – some of which were children as young as 18 months. Matthews, 45, was arrested and interviewed by police on January 8 following the raid on November 28 last year. At first he claimed he had stolen the disk during a burglary and had only viewed the images once. But he later admitted downloading the pictures over the internet when pop-ups had appeared on his computer screen. The father-of-two, who has previous convictions for burglary and dishonesty, told officers he had then transferred the images on to the disk. Matthews, of Cheshire Crescent, Tangmere, Chichester, has now been jailed for eight months. He is likele to serve half the sentence in custody and will remain on the sex offenders register for the next 10 years Judge William Wood said: ‘I think you do understand that the gravity of these offences is not in the crime of looking at them but the crime other people commit by taking indecent images ‘That is what the court needs to stamp out. ‘And that is why it is necessary in the interests of the public that a prison sentence is imposed when this kind of conduct reaches such a level of gravity.’ Matthews’ barrister, Piers Power, said the offences had taken place when his client had been in ‘turmoil’ and locked in a loveless marriage. Matthews admitted 28 counts of making indecent images of children at Chichester Crown Court.