Paedophile jailed

[19 August 2008]

A man who was found to possess at least 241,000 child abuse images has been jailed for at least three years and nine months.

Philip Anthony Thompson, from Stockton-on-Tees, admitted to 27 charges, which include causing children aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity. He was involved in a website which used 'borderline-legal' images to bring 'like-minded' people together. Police have pinpointed a further 360 suspects from the website. Thompson was told he posed a 'very significant risk' to the public and will serve an indeterminate prison sentence. He will also be placed on the sex offenders register for life and will be banned from the internet and any contact with children. Fifty further arrests have been made as a result of the case, and 15 children have been removed from situations where they were being abused or were accessible to an offender.

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