Bedford man was in possession of more than 16,000 indecent images of children

BEDFORD MAN WAS IN POSSESSION OF MORE THAN 16,000 INDECENT IMAGES OF CHILDREN

A man from Bedford has been jailed after more than 16,000 indecent images of children were found in his possession.

Callum Harpur, 20, was caught making indecent images of children whilst serving a suspended sentence for the same offence.

He had more than 16,000 indecent images of children and 14 electronic devices in his possession when Bedfordshire Police executed a warrant at his address in July.

Examination of his devices found Harpur had been distributing indecent images of children via the Telegram app, as well as taking indecent images of children and making many more.

After giving a ‘no comment’ interview to detectives from Bedfordshire Police’s Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team, Harpur was charged and remanded into custody.

Harpur, of Western Street, Bedford pleaded guilty to four counts of making indecent images of children, as well as taking and distributing indecent images of children on October 24.

He also pleaded guilty to breaching his sexual harm prevention order.

He was sentenced to spend three years in prison and will be placed on the sex offenders register for life.

PC Yasmine Batson from ICAIT, who led the investigation, said: "People involved in this kind of heinous crime should be under no illusion that we will be coming after them.

Our Offender Management Unit has been recognised as outstanding and we have invested in cutting edge technology to help us uncover serious crime online.

We will not stop in our efforts to keep children in Bedfordshire safe and get offenders like Harpur off the street." Anyone with concerns about the safety of children online or with concerns that someone you know may be committing sexual offences against children or making or distributing explicit materials of children online is asked to report it to police via beds.police.uk/ro/report