May 2003 Sunbury-on-Thames resident jailed after paedophile probe AN IT engineer was jailed for five-and-a-half years for his involvement in a paedophile ring, when he appeared at Guildford Crown Court recently. Twenty-seven-year-old Sunbury-on-Thames resident, Simon Chan, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute indecent images, and 20 counts of making indecent images. His computer contained more than 100 gigabytes of material – equal to 28,000 images and 3,000 videos. Along with his custodial sentence, Chan was banned from ever working with children, and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life. Detective Superintendent Mick Deats said: “We are delighted with the sentence handed out. “This was a lengthy and complicated operation, which drew on all the specialist skills of our officers. “Most importantly, a child who was identified as a result of this operation is no longer at risk.” Sandie Hebblethwaite, chief Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, in Surrey, said the images were truly abhorrent’.