MAN CAUGHT WITH MORE CHILD ABUSE IMAGES
A man with a history of child exploitation has been reimprisoned after authorities found him with indecent images, including on a phone that he had taken into prison on a previous sentence.Stephen Phillips, who has served two prior jail terms for possessing illegal child abuse images, was caught with illegal material again.
Following his most recent sentence in 2019, police visited HMP Holme House in Stockton and confiscated a phone that Phillips had left behind.
The device contained two top-tier Category A images and 11 Category C images.
In May of the previous year, law enforcement officers visited Phillips’ residence and discovered a hidden phone lodged in an armchair, along with USB sticks concealed behind water pipes in the bathroom.
These devices contained hundreds of additional illegal images, including footage of two boys and a girl aged between 8 and 10 engaging in sexual activities.
Overall, Phillips possessed over 4,000 child exploitation images.
The court proceedings revealed that Phillips had been convicted of possessing indecent images in both 2003 and 2019, each time receiving short prison sentences.
His 2019 sentence included a sexual harm prevention order requiring him to register any electronic devices with police and prohibiting him from possessing storage devices without police approval.
Now aged 63 and residing in Beaumont Street, Blyth, Northumberland, Phillips admitted to breaching the conditions of his order, as well as offences related to indecent images.
He was sentenced to a total of 44 months in prison.
