June 2022

Sentencing adjourned again for former Tory district councillor charged over videos of child sex abuse and bestiality

A Conservative former Uttlesford district councillor and Stansted parish councillor charged over child sex abuse videos and extreme pornography involving bestiality has had his sentencing adjourned.

Paul Davies, 47, of Oxlip Road, Stansted, had been due to appear at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday (June 20). The hearing has been put back to July 11 as a pre-sentence report is still awaited.

Davies appeared before Chelmsford magistrates on April 25 and admitted five charges relating to hundreds of videos. These included distributing indecent images of children, making indecent images of children and possession of extreme pornography, including two bestiality videos showing a person performing a sexual act with a dog.

The case was referred to Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday (May 23) and was adjourned for four weeks for a pre-sentence report to be drawn up. He will appear before the same court for sentencing next month.

Davies was arrested in December 2021 while he was still serving as a Stansted parish councillor, having won a by-

election for the Stansted North ward seven months earlier. He resigned the same month “due to a family crisis”, it was reported at the time.

Davies faces three charges of making indecent photos of children concerning a total of 385 videos and one image in categories A, B and C. The single charge of distributing an indecent photo of a child relates to two category A videos.

The charge of possessing extreme pornographic images relates to two bestiality videos showing a person performing a sexual act with a dog.