EX RAF MAN JAILED FOR DISTRIBUTING VILE CHILD ABUSE IMAGES
A retired RAF serviceman and former supermarket security guard has been sentenced to 28 months in prison after he was found guilty of downloading and distributing the most abhorrent images of children being sexually abused.Richard James Eckl, aged 70 and formerly residing in Bryn y Mor, Holyhead, was locked up following a court appearance at Caernarfon Crown Court.
He had earlier admitted to three counts of downloading and three counts of distributing child abuse images.
The judge, Timothy Petts, emphasized the severity of the charges, stating: “These are images of child abuse.
Boys aged between five and 12 years of age being abused in some of the vilest ways possible,” leading to an immediate custodial sentence.
Prosecutor Ryan Rothwell revealed Eckl was generally of good character prior to his offending, which was uncovered when Nicholas Charles Walker, a known sex offender, informed police that Eckl had supplied him with indecent images via the dark web for several years.
Police recovered two memory sticks from Eckl’s trousers containing images of children, and further devices were seized for analysis.
A total of 553 indecent images were found on his devices, including 77 at the most severe category.
Evidence showed Eckl had installed file deletion software to conceal his browsing activity.
During police interviews, Eckl made full admissions, stating that Walker had introduced him to the dark web and that he had researched how to download images from it.
The court also ordered his details to be recorded on the sex offenders’ register for ten years, and the seized computer equipment was to be destroyed.
The case was part of a broader crackdown on online child exploitation, with earlier convictions such as Nicholas Walker, who was jailed for 12 months for possessing indecent images.
Ffion Tomos, defending, urged the court to consider Eckl’s guilty plea, honesty, and his previously good character, explaining he served 22 years in the Royal Air Force and later worked in security before giving it up to care for his ill wife.
