February 2017 Prison worker jailed after being found with child abuse images A prison worker who helped to rehabilitate offenders has found himself behind bars for possessing sex abuse images of babies and young children and extreme pornography. Paul Melvin admitted he was addicted to pornography and declared he was ashamed of his behaviour. His lawyer said the 49-year-old, who worked in a Sheppey prison, had sought help and submitted it could be continued under a suspended sentence. But jailing Melvin, of Noreen Avenue, Minster for 10 months, a judge said: “It is the type of offence that requires a deterrent sentence, so character doesn’t carry much weight.” He said of the extreme porn: “It involved revolting and demeaning abuse of horses and dogs.” Maidstone Crown Court heard police raided Melvin’s home on April 7 last year and seized computer equipment that was found to have 33 images of child sex abuse in the highest category of seriousness, 24 in the next bracket and 207 in the least serious category. Some of the children being abused were as young as 12 months. Melvin said he did not have a preference as to whether they were boys or girls. There were also 274 images of men and women engaged in sex with dogs and horses. Prosecutor Keith Yardy said Melvin immediately told officers: “I am such an idiot. I have been silly. I am just surfing the internet. I haven’t been on the dark web.  “It is going to kill me. I am obsessed. It is an addiction. I have a compulsion to look at porn. I am not one of them – I am normal.” Melvin admitted three offences of possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme pornography. Melvin had worked in a job centre helping people find employment and then for the last three years in a prison assisting inmates to “get back on their feet” and find jobs.