HERTFORDSHIRE POLITICIAN STEPHEN HOLMES JAILDED IN HEMEL HEMPSTEAD FOR POSSESSING OVER 400,000 CHILD INDECENT IMAGES

A senior politician from Hertfordshire, who was responsible for overseeing children's services, has been sentenced to prison after police found him in possession of more than 400,000 indecent images of children. Stephen Holmes, aged 61, received a 10-month custodial sentence at St Albans Crown Court today after admitting to 23 counts related to possessing indecent images and videos, including thousands classified at the most severe level five abuse.

Holmes accumulated this extensive collection over a span of 12 years. Following his arrest, he resigned from his role as deputy portfolio holder for children's services at Hertfordshire County Council and from his position as a Dacorum borough councillor.

During the court proceedings, Harry Bentley, representing Holmes, stated that his client had never tried to exploit his position or seek access to children. Bentley described Holmes as "a man with a problem, not a persistent sex offender," adding, "a somewhat pathetic individual locking himself in a room on his own."

The images were uncovered in May by police after investigating online activity at Holmes's home in Woodhall Farm. Holmes, who also served as a Dacorum Borough Councillor in Hemel Hempstead and was a former mayor of the borough, was identified as living at Dickens Court, Hemel Hempstead.

In addition to his prison sentence, Judge John Plumstead imposed an indefinite sex offenders prevention order that restricts Holmes’s internet access.