November 2019 Man, 24, jailed for sexual offences against children with special needs in West Sussex A man has been jailed for 18 years for sexual offences against children with special needs in West Sussex, police said. Phillip Scott, 24, of Sidmouth, Devon, appeared before Lewes Crown Court on Tuesday (November 26), said police, having been convicted in May after a trial, of 28 counts of sexual offences. Police said he had been convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a child, and four counts of causing or inciting a child into sexual activity. He was also convicted of 19 offences of making indecent images of children and one offence of distributing indecent offences of children. Three further offences of possessing indecent images of children at his address in Devon were taken into consideration by the court in sentencing, police said. The prosecution, authorised by the CPS, followed an investigation by detectives from the Sussex Police Complex Abuse Unit. It found that Scott, known as Pip, had sexually assaulted two vulnerable boys who were much younger than him He also ‘groomed’ a younger boy, while not actually physically assaulting him, over the internet, into engaging in sexual activity online. Police said he was found not guilty of grooming a fourth younger boy over the internet into carrying out sexual acts online. When police searched Scott’s address, they found several electronic devices containing many indecent images of children, some of which he had contributed to others with an interest in such material. Police said Scott will be a registered sex offender for life and was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to last until further court notice, severely restricting his access to children and computers.