CAR DEALER PHILLIP HITCHEN OF SUTTON COLDFIELD JAILED FOR CHILD INDECENT IMAGES

In August 2012, Phillip Hitchen, the owner of a specialized US car dealership, was sentenced to prison for possessing indecent images of children.

Hitchen, 57, from Whateley Lodge Drive in Castle Bromwich, owns the American Auto Centre, a business that has been operating in Minworth, Sutton Coldfield for nearly three decades.

Last week, he was sentenced to eight months in prison at Birmingham Crown Court after being convicted on 17 charges related to downloading indecent images.

Authorities executed raids on both his residence and his Kingsbury Road-based business when he was taken into custody by West Midlands Police.

Inspectors discovered on his computer material including extreme pornography and indecent images of children, classified from level one up to the most severe level five images.

In addition to his imprisonment, Hitchen was ordered to be on the sex offenders register for the next ten years and will be subject to a sexual offences prevention order. This order prohibits him from possessing any device capable of downloading such material—including computers or phones.

Hitchen co-founded the car dealership, which specializes in import and sale of second-hand US vehicles, with his late father Dennis in 1983.

A local businessman, who chose not to be named, expressed his shock, saying, “I just can't believe it. Everybody who knows him and his mother are completely shocked by the news. It is scary to think that this has happened and we had no idea. I do think people should know about it now though.”