February 2023

Children’s doctor had 1,300,000 child abuse pictures of young girls

A former children’s doctor has been jailed for keeping around 1.28 million indecent images of children.

David Shaw, 48, admitted being attracted to pre-pubescent girls after he was arrested at home in Maidstone, Kent, in February 2019.

The paedophile, who was a GP between 2005 and 2013, started collecting the horrific content as he began his career as a GP in 2005.

He used anonymous sharing techniques on data sharing network Freenet to download the images.

When he was caught, he said he had been expecting a visit from law enforcement at some point.

He described himself as a ‘criminal’ and a ‘bad’ person and said he became depressed when he tried to stop looking at the images.

Shaw, who moved to Taunton in Somerset eventually stopped working as a GP

He was charged with three counts of making and possessing indecent images of children and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court on October 18 last year.

He was jailed for two years and two months at the same court on Wednesday.

Shaw was also made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Judge Saxby commented on how, as a specialist in paediatrics, Shaw would have been acutely aware of the harm such images of children would cause.