HARROW PAEDOPHILE ROBERT FORD SENTENCED FOR CHILD PORN COLLECTION IN BRUTAL CASE

In September 2006, Robert Ford, a 59-year-old telecommunications engineer residing on Clewer Crescent in Harrow Weald, was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being found guilty of possessing one of the country’s most extensive collections of child pornography. Ford’s obsession with illicit material led him to construct a custom-built 'super computer' equipped with two hard drives, designed specifically to store his vast collection of images and videos.

Over a period of five years, Ford amassed approximately 120,000 pictures and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children as young as three years old. The police investigation, which took six weeks to analyze just a third of the collection, revealed the disturbing extent of his illicit activities. The images included some classified at the highest level of obscenity, with more than 500 considered to be the most severe category of child abuse material.

The police raid on Ford’s residence was initiated after Italian authorities tipped off UK law enforcement about his access to a paedophile website. The investigation uncovered that Ford, a former sailor, had used his professional expertise to develop a powerful computer system capable of handling and storing such a massive volume of illicit content. During the court proceedings at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court, Judge Roger Chapple described the images as depicting children being subjected to sexual acts for adult gratification, emphasizing the heinous nature of the crimes.

Judge Chapple stated, “Those who view these images create a demand for more of this material, meaning more children are involved in this despicable, evil trade.” He underscored that the sentence was intended not only to reflect societal outrage but also to serve as a deterrent to others contemplating similar offenses. As part of his sentence, Ford was ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years and was permanently barred from working with children. Additionally, his license period following parole was extended by three years, during which he was required to attend a sex offending rehabilitation program.

Prosecutor Peter Zinner highlighted Ford’s disturbing obsession, stating, “He has a clear obsession with child sex porn. He has pursued that obsession for a long time.” Zinner explained that Ford exploited his professional skills to create a 'super computer' with an enormous memory capacity to store his extensive collection. Authorities managed to categorize 46,045 indecent images of children from Ford’s computer, which represented roughly a third of the total seized material. The entire collection was estimated to have taken approximately three months to process, given the volume and severity of the content.

The investigation revealed a significant amount of level-five material, indicating the most severe abuse and suffering inflicted upon children to produce such images. Following his arrest in September of the previous year, Ford openly admitted to his 'hobby' and claimed that his 'sickness' began at age 15 when he started drawing children in sexual poses. He also stated that his deviant interests stemmed from being beaten as a child as a punishment for his homosexuality.

Ford’s defense lawyer, Richard Keogh, noted that Ford had received police protection from vigilante groups aware of his offenses through local newspapers. Keogh emphasized that Ford maintained he would never cross the line from viewing to contact with any young person, describing his sexual perversion as confined to his private residence.

It was also revealed that Ford had no prior criminal convictions. He pleaded guilty to 20 counts of making indecent photographs of children and seven counts of possessing such images, covering the period from January 1, 2000, to October 1 of the previous year. Detective Trevor Brown of the Metropolitan Police’s paedophile unit commented on the case, stating, “It was certainly one of the largest collections of pornography the unit has been involved in.”