Telford man caught with 'vile' images of children chatted in online paedophile groups

Aynsley Meadows, of The Rookery, Madeley, appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court where he was sentenced after pleading guilty to 11 charges.

The 27-year-old admitted 11 charges - they included six counts of distributing indecent images of children, three counts of downloading indecent images of children - in categories A, B, and C - as well as one charge of possessing a prohibited image of a child, and another of possessing an extreme pornographic image.

Marcus Harry, prosecuting, said that police had received information that an account on the social media platform Discord, which was linked to Meadows’ e-mail account, had uploaded indecent images of children.

The court was told officers then discovered the uploads had happened on more than one occasion.

Police then raided Meadows’s home and seized a number of electronic devices.

An examination of the devices showed they had been used to search the internet for child sexual abuse material.

Analysis of a mobile phone also showed communication with other individuals who were purporting to be children, and the sharing of child sexual abuse images.

Examination of the devices revealed Meadows had downloaded scores of images and videos of abuse - in categories A, B, and C.

Mr Harry told the court they included disturbing images of young children suffering the worst kinds of physical sexual abuse.

Meadows was also found with images showing a woman engaging in sex acts with a dog.

Chat logs recovered by police showed he had been speaking with girls claiming to be 13 years old.

The court was told Meadows had requested pictures in return for money - and asked for proof that the person was 13.

Mr Harry detailed the name of a sick Discord chat group which Meadows was part of - named ‘Pedfilth’.

Suzanne Francis, mitigating, said Meadows was a man of previous good character who had pleaded guilty to the offences, which dated back two years.

The court was told Meadows is currently in the process of being diagnosed with both ADHD and autism.

Ms Francis accepted the offences were “vile” but urged the court to suspend any sentence and give Meadows a chance at rehabilitation with the probation service.

Sentencing, Judge Trevor Meegan said the images had included the most serious forms of abuse.

He said he accepted Meadows has a willingness to address his behaviour and had expressed shame, but said he would be serving an immediate prison sentence.

Meadows was jailed for two and a half years.

He was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order and will be added to the sex offenders register.