Paedophile jailed after detectives uncover child abuse footage

A paedophile has been jailed after detectives discovered he had been accessing hundreds of hours of sickening child abuse footage.

Police were alerted to Ashley Holmes when it was discovered he had uploaded indecent images to the internet via a Whatsapp account on 7 March 2023.

Analysis of the 26-year-old’s mobile devices revealed he had 27 days’ worth of indecent video footage, as well as extreme child abuse images and a manual detailing how to abuse children and avoid detection.

Much of the footage and many of the images were graded as Category A – depicting the most serious sexual abuse of children by adults.

Holmes, formerly of Sutton-in-Ashfield, also scrawled comments about abusing children in a diary he kept while on remand in a prison cell.

Mobile phone analysis revealed he had accounts on a storage and data service assessed via a server based in New Zealand.

Detectives worked with counterparts in New Zealand and the country’s internal affairs department to access these files and discover Holmes had stored indecent images and videos.

In total, Holmes was in possession of more than 452 hours of Category A videos, 125 hours of Category B videos and 79 hours of Category C videos.

Holmes, of no fixed abode, was given a nine-year custodial sentence when he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday (14 October). He will spend five years in jail and a further four years on licence.

Holmes has also been added to the sex offenders’ register for life.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs, possessing a prohibited image of a child, possessing extreme pornographic images and possessing a paedophile manual.

Detective Constable Tom Nuttall, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:

“This was a complex investigation into an individual we believe poses a significant danger to children.

“It is rare to find such an extensive amount of footage, and the videos, as well as the images, depicted the very worst abuse of children.

“We know a real child has suffered appalling physical and emotional abuse to produce every one of these images or videos.

“Offenders like Holmes may not be committing this abuse in person, but they are certainly contributing to it every time they view, download or share this disturbing material.

“This is why we carry out such meticulous investigations to ensure paedophiles like Holmes are put before the courts.”