MEDWAY SEX OFFENDER JAILED AFTER BREACHING COURT ORDERS WITH HIDDEN PHONE AND CHILD ABUSE CARTOONS
A man registered as a sex offender has received another prison sentence after authorities found he possessed more than 600 animated images depicting child abuse.Stuart Wenham, aged 47 and from Medway, had only recently been released from incarceration in March, when he violated strict court orders that prohibited him from accessing indecent material or concealing devices.
Previously, Wenham had been imprisoned earlier in 2023 for producing indecent images of minors and was subjected to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Soon after his release, law enforcement suspected he was hiding a secondary phone and using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
During his arrest, officers recovered a second phone and uncovered hundreds of ‘pseudo-cartoon’ images, some depicting abuse of an infant under one year old.
He was also found to be using a VPN, hiding a laptop, and failing to comply with mandatory notifications regarding his devices and software.
Analysis of the laptop revealed usage of cloud storage services and deliberate deletion of browsing history to avoid detection.
In police questioning, Wenham claimed the cartoons did not involve real children and stated that the victims looked happy in the images.
On September 12, a judge sentenced Wenham to four years in prison, describing him as “a dangerous man” with a lengthy history of similar offenses.
PC Leona Valsler, who led the investigation, stated: “Despite having multiple chances to change, Wenham has again chosen to pursue and possess disturbing, abhorrent material.
The fact that these images are cartoons rather than actual videos of child abuse is no justification, and Wenham has repeatedly disregarded the measures meant to prevent his reoffending.”
