WIREDGOV

A manager from Staffordshire who posted images online of him sexually assaulting a child has been jailed for eight years.

Investigators also traced some of the images made by Ian Worthington, 52, to a device belonging to an Australian sex offender, who was jailed for 22 years in 2015.

Worthington was arrested in November 2020 after National Crime Agency investigators identified that he had uploaded child sexual abuse material to the dark web from his home, near Cannock.

His house was searched and officers seized a number of devices, including a phone and laptop, which were forensically examined.

Worthington used a number of dark web hidden service forums in an effort to ensure his activity remained anonymous.

Investigators recovered 20,500 IIOC at categories A-C (A being the most serious) from his devices.

Among these were 135 Category B and 140 Category C images showing a child being sexually assaulted by Worthington and there was evidence which suggested they had been distributed to other paedophiles online.

Worthington was charged with one count of sexual assault of a child under 13 by touching, three counts of making IIOC (ranging from category A-C) and two counts of distributing category B and C IIOC.

He pleaded guilty to all the charges at Stafford Crown Court on 20 May this year and was sentenced to eight years and eight months at the same court yesterday (6 July).

NCA operations manager Hazel Stewart said: “Online abuse material cannot exist without the real-world exploitation of children. As this case shows, there is a clear link between offenders seeking out such material and committing sexual abuse themselves.

“We have wide-ranging capabilities to identify the most dangerous offenders who use the dark web in an attempt to remain anonymous. We will stop at nothing to ensure they face justice, and to protect children from exploitation.”