August 2023

Convicted St Neots paedophile caught with over 1,000 indecent images after police make a surprise visit

A convicted paedophile has been jailed after more than 1,000 indecent images were discovered on his phone.

Andrew Brittain, 41, had been banned from using the internet at home without telling police – but he was found to have been using a web browser when he was caught with the child abuse pictures.

Brittain was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and an 18-month community order after he admitted three counts of making indecent images in February 2021.

But in June last year, two officers paid an unannounced visit to Brittain’s then-home in Stone Hill, St Neots, and found an indecent image of two children on his phone.

“It’s a mistake when you do it the first time, but when you do it for a second time, it’s no longer a mistake,” Brittain said to the officers. His phone was immediately seized, and forensic digital tests revealed it contained 1,165 indecent images: 77 classed as category A – the most severe – 298 category of B and 790 of category C.

During police interview, Brittain admitted he had been using a web browser typically associated with accessing the “dark web” and was in breach of this SHPO conditions.

On August 17 at Peterborough Crown Court, Brittain, now of Jackson Walk, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child and breach of a SHPO.

He was handed a one-year prison sentence, given a SHPO for a further 10 years and was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.