MATTHEW FRIEDRICH FROM BENFLEET ESCAPES JAIL DESPITE CHILD SEX ABUSE IMAGE DISCOVERY IN ESSEX

In November 2018, a disturbing case unfolded at Basildon Crown Court involving Matthew Friedrich, a 28-year-old man from Benfleet, who was found in possession of a significant collection of child sex abuse images. Despite the gravity of the evidence against him, Friedrich was spared imprisonment and received a community-based sentence.

Authorities executed a search warrant at Friedrich’s residence on Central Avenue, Benfleet, after law enforcement officials obtained sufficient grounds to investigate his activities. During the raid, police seized three computers from his home and uncovered a disturbing cache of images depicting both boys and girls as young as six years old, although the majority appeared to be teenagers. The images were categorized into different severity levels, with five classified as the most serious, 37 as Category B, and 205 as Category C.

Prosecutor Charlotte Davison detailed the findings, revealing that Friedrich had actively sought out these illicit images through online searches. She explained, “He had sought to view these images as there were search terms found including 12-year-olds, 11-year-olds, ten-year-olds and bondage young girls. Search terms were being used right up until two days before the warrant was executed.”

Friedrich was interviewed by police in June of the same year. During the interview, he admitted to having a poor social life and experiencing episodes of depression, which he claimed led him to seek interaction in online chat rooms. He explained that he came across the images and became “curious about the children in them.”

He further confessed to viewing images across all severity categories and stated that he had reported the most severe images to the police, describing them as “disgusting.” Friedrich expressed remorse, telling officers he was disgusted with himself and requested information about available support services. Since then, he has been receiving counseling from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation to address his issues.

Judge Ian Graham emphasized the seriousness of Friedrich’s actions during sentencing, stating, “These offences are taken so seriously because these are real children in those images. They are not made up and they have been subjected to sexual abuse for these images to be produced. That’s why the law takes it so seriously.”

Friedrich was sentenced to a two-year community order, which includes mandatory participation in an internet sex offenders’ rehabilitation program supervised by the probation service. Additionally, he is required to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years and is subject to a sexual harm prevention order that restricts his use of computers. The court also ordered Friedrich to pay costs amounting to £360, along with a victim surcharge, as part of the penalty for his offences.