RICHARD THOMAS OF LIVERPOOL JAILED FOR THIRD CHILD SEXUAL OFFENCE
A man from Liverpool, Richard Thomas, aged 31, has been sentenced to prison after admitting to multiple offences related to online child sexual abuse.This marks his third conviction in nine years for such crimes.
Thomas pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to five charges: three counts of creating indecent images of children, one count of inciting another person to distribute indecent images of a child, and one count of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed that Thomas used an online video conferencing platform to view indecent images of children.
Investigators confirmed that the chat room usernames 'Ped UK' and 'P1' were linked to him.
Thomas has a prior criminal history for similar offences.
In 2010, he received a three-year community order, and in 2016, he was given a 12-month prison sentence along with a SHPO that restricted his internet access without police approval.
Alongside his prison sentence, Thomas was ordered to be on the sex offenders register for life, and the existing SHPO remains in force.
Graham Ellis, the NCA operations manager, stated: “This is Thomas’ third conviction for offences related to online child abuse.
By viewing these horrific images of children – and others like him – are contributing to the ongoing abuse of young children worldwide.” He added, “We know that the scale and severity of this type of offending against children is worsening.
Many offenders escalate from viewing images to actually abusing children, which is very alarming.
The NCA and our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue child sex offenders relentlessly and will do everything possible to bring them to justice.” The NCA’s latest National Strategic Assessment, released this week, highlights a 997% increase in online child sexual abuse and exploitation referrals from industry sources between 2012 and 2018.
