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| Paedophile 'librarian' is jailed | Paedophile 'librarian' is jailed |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| A man police said was the "librarian" of a global internet child abuse ring has been jailed indefinitely. | |
| Philip Anthony Thompson, of Stockton-on-Tees, will serve at least three years and nine months, but a Teesside judge warned it could be much longer. | |
| Thompson admitted 27 charges, including causing children aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity. | |
| The website he was involved with used "borderline-legal" images to bring together "like-minded" people. | |
| Police have so far pinpointed 360 suspects. | |
| Handing down sentence at Teesside Crown Court, Judge Michael Taylor said Thompson posed a "very significant risk" to the public and therefore he would be imposing an indeterminate prison sentence for public protection. | |
| He told him: "You have shown that you are a very dangerous individual indeed. I consider that you pose a very significant risk to the public and you are a dangerous offender." He [Thompson] was... the librarian/warehouseman for a myriad of images that were distributed to like-minded individuals both in this country and elsewhere Det Chief Supt Mark BraithwaiteCleveland Police class="" href="/1/hi/uk/7567460.stm">Double life of abuse 'librarian' Thompson was told he would also be placed on the sex offenders register for life and banned from the internet and any contact with children. | |
| About 241,000 child abuse images - which were still and moving images of varying degrees of extremity - were discovered in his possession. | About 241,000 child abuse images - which were still and moving images of varying degrees of extremity - were discovered in his possession. |
| Police said more than 130 suspects had been uncovered in the UK and more than 50 arrests have been made. | Police said more than 130 suspects had been uncovered in the UK and more than 50 arrests have been made. |
| As a result, 15 children in the UK have been removed from situations where they were being abused or were accessible to an offender. | As a result, 15 children in the UK have been removed from situations where they were being abused or were accessible to an offender. |
| Police revealed the network was first infiltrated by Metropolitan Police officers, working undercover, in May 2007 | |
| It became the largest investigation of its kind in the UK, also involving Cleveland Police and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). | It became the largest investigation of its kind in the UK, also involving Cleveland Police and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). |
| Det Sgt Rebecca Driscoll and Det Constable Terry Waterfield of Cleveland Police | |
| Users of the forum would post borderline-legal images of children and pass comments on them. | Users of the forum would post borderline-legal images of children and pass comments on them. |
| Police said "indicative images" rather than explicit child sex abuse images were posted online in an attempt to keep the site "below the radar" and prevent it being shut down. | Police said "indicative images" rather than explicit child sex abuse images were posted online in an attempt to keep the site "below the radar" and prevent it being shut down. |
| According to CEOP, which co-ordinates covert investigations into internet child sexual abuse, users would make contact this way then meet other like-minded individuals and exchange images in "different online environments". | According to CEOP, which co-ordinates covert investigations into internet child sexual abuse, users would make contact this way then meet other like-minded individuals and exchange images in "different online environments". |
| Its chief executive Jim Gamble said: "This website - whilst appearing to operate on the margins of legality - was clearly a front for the sinister, sexual abuse of children and an image trading ground for paedophiles." | Its chief executive Jim Gamble said: "This website - whilst appearing to operate on the margins of legality - was clearly a front for the sinister, sexual abuse of children and an image trading ground for paedophiles." |
| Det Chief Supt Mark Braithwaite, from Cleveland Police, said Thompson had been "a critical piece of this network". | Det Chief Supt Mark Braithwaite, from Cleveland Police, said Thompson had been "a critical piece of this network". |
| "He was the librarian/warehouseman for a myriad of images that were distributed to like-minded individuals both in this country and elsewhere." |