Boscombe Man Jailed for Child Sex Offences

Adrian Scott, 58, of Tidworth Road, Boscombe, was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison on Wednesday (November 24) for a range of child sex offences. He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to ten counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, six of inciting a boy to engage in sexual activity without penetration, three of making indecent photographs of a child, one count of paying for sexual services of a boy without penetration and one of distributing an indecent photograph of a child.

Scott was identified as having an account on a website with storage and file hosting services based in New Zealand, where he uploaded and shared a number of files while posing as a 16-year-old. In April 2020, officers from Wiltshire Police's Child Internet Exploitation Team searched his residence at the time in Great Durnford, Salisbury, and found evidence of his offences.

Investigations revealed Scott used online chat sites to encourage boys as young as 13 to perform sexual acts, sending money on more than one occasion via online transfer. He also posed as a 16-year-old boy online to talk to others about indecent images. A total of 1,459 images and videos were recovered during the investigation.

Detective Constable Jason Walsh of the Wiltshire Police Child Internet Exploitation Team stated, "Cases such as this are often shocking and disturbing, and our job is to safeguard the victims. We are pleased to have secured a custodial sentence for Scott, and this is testament to some superb partnership work. We will continue to act on intelligence we receive on these abhorrent crimes and will ensure the internet is not a safe place for individuals like Scott to prey on the most vulnerable in our communities."

In addition to the prison sentence, Scott was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and added to the sex offenders register indefinitely.