A 22-year-old man from Colerne has been sentenced after earlier pleading guilty to possession of extreme pornographic material and two counts of making indecent images of children. 

Appearing before Salisbury Crown Court via video link yesterday (June 15) Kieran Philip Lee of Larch Road, North Colerne, was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for two years for the first count

Additionally, he received four months suspended for two years for each of the two further counts.

These sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will serve eight months suspended for two years.

In addition, he must undertake 30 days rehabilitation activity requirement as part of an accredited sexual offences programme, carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

The case had been adjourned following his guilty plea in April to allow completion of a pre-sentence report.

Lee’s offending came to light as a result of information supplied by partner agencies.

On Wednesday, July 22 2020 a Section 8 warrant was carried out at a property in Larch Road, Colerne, where Lee was arrested after returning home from work.

Lee shared passwords to a cloud-based account where officers subsequently found the illegal abusive images of children, which he denied intentionally downloading when interviewed by investigating officers.

Detective Constable Jason Walsh, from Wiltshire Police’s Child Internet Exploitation Team, said: “This was a disturbing case involving a person who was viewing indecent images of children who were at a very young age. 

“We were able to act swiftly and make an arrest, seizing his devices so these could be examined for evidence of the viewing or downloading of child abuse images.

“However, while every child who is pictured in these types of images is a very real victim of abuse, it is important to note that we have found no evidence of Lee either taking pictures of children known to him or committing offences against children known to him.

“We hope this case highlights the proactive work which is constantly taking place to identify offenders who access indecent images of children and ensure they are brought to justice.”

For more information and support for anyone who is concerned about someone accessing indecent images of children, or who has wider concerns about child abuse, please click here.