Council Worker Jailed for Child Abuse Images

A Swindon council worker has been sentenced to two years in prison after being found with thousands of disturbing images and videos of child abuse.

Jamie Osborn, 41, of Gooch Street, amassed the collection over a seven-year period and shared them with others online.

Canadian police alerted Wiltshire officers after busting a company selling paedophilic DVDs globally. Osborn, a sports assistant with Swindon Council, claimed he distributed the material as a courtesy to a community sharing his interests.

Toronto officers discovered Osborn had spent £650 on 25 films from the company selling the DVDs and images.

Prosecutor Tessa Hingston told Swindon Crown Court that the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre received the initial tip-off.

A search of Osborn's home in December 2013 revealed over 250 videos and at least 2,450 images of abused children, some as young as two.

Two computers seized from his home were found to contain the material. His internet browser history showed saved searches such as "young boys sex" and "naturalist boys."

It was revealed that Osborn had sent over 1,500 files via email to 16 different people he had met online.

Ms Hingston stated that five of the films sent across the Atlantic contained illicit material, with the others showing child nudity.

Osborn pleaded guilty to eight counts of making, five counts of distributing, and one of possessing indecent images of children.

Defense attorney Rob Ross stated that Osborn had sought help for the problem from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

"Everything one learns about Mr Osborn suggests to me he is a man who has lived the life of a loner for a very long time," he said.

"He was able to divide this interest in looking at images from any suggestion that he would contemplate any physical contact."

"Immediately after he was confronted he began to seek assistance in how to put himself back on track."

"Whatever sentence he gets he won't have a job as a recreational assistant with Swindon Borough Council. He has to rebuild his life at the age of 41."

Sentencing Osborn to two years in prison, Judge Peter Blair QC said: "You are likely to be barred from ever working with children by the barring authority."

He also imposed a sexual harm prevention order restricting Osborn's liberty for five years and ordered him to register as a sex offender.