Man jailed after police find more than 650 indecent images of children

Martin James Hunt, aged 38 and of Fairey Crescent in Gillingham, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday, July 26 after admitting three offences of making indecent images of children and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Hunt had already been made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order in February 2017 after being convicted of offences involving indecent images of children. The conditions of the order included a requirement to produce any device capable of accessing the internet to his offender manager and make it available for inspection.

On 6 July 2018, police searched Hunt’s address after being told he was suspected of sending indecent images to a child in the United States of America.

Following a search, an iPhone was found hidden in his room and Hunt admitted he had used it for three years to chat to underage girls online and send indecent images.

He told police they would find indecent images of children on the device and that he had attempted to hide it because he did not want his offender manager to find it.

Indecent images are graded from category A to C, with A the most serious.

On Hunt’s iPhone, police found 82 still images and 63 moving images that were given this most serious rating, 117 still and 27 moving images graded category B and 367 still images and 15 moving images of category C. In total Hunt's hidden iPhone contained 671 indecent images of children.

Detective Constable Paul Williams, of Dorset Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT), said: “Despite being the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for previous matters involving indecent images of children, Martin Hunt continued to offend and made efforts to conceal his behaviour.

“This kind of offending can have devastating and lifelong impact on the children involved and we are determined to identify those responsible in producing and sharing these images and bring them before the courts.”