A former soldier has been jailed after police traced downloads of hundreds of indecent images of children to his computer at his barracks.
Adam David Bonner, 19, from Middlesbrough, was sentenced at York Crown Court on Wednesday (November 11) after pleading guilty to 11 offences. He was arrested at his North Yorkshire barracks after the computer he was using was traced to his previous army barracks in Devon.
Offences and sentencing
Bonner was sentenced to three years and four months in a Young Offender Institution for the 11 offences. These included making and distributing indecent images of children in categories A, B and C, engaging and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, possessing a prohibited image of a child, attempting to cause a girl aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to cause a child under 13 to look at an image of sexual activity, and possessing an extreme pornographic image involving an animal.
His offending first came to the attention of North Yorkshire Police’s Online Child Abuse Team (OCAT) in March last year, when a computer he was suspected to be using to download hundreds of indecent images of children was traced to his previous army barracks in Devon. Following enquiries to establish his identity, he was arrested at Catterick Garrison the following month on April 16.
Investigation and public protection measures
Detectives and digital forensic experts were able to prove a catalogue of offending which spanned the country where Bonner had been stationed with the Army. This included Dorset, in Scotland, and his hometown of Middlesbrough.
As well as the custodial sentence, Bonner has also been placed on the Sex Offenders Register, barred from working with children and vulnerable adults, and handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Detective Sergeant Graeme Bevington, from the Online Child Abuse Team, said: “We were able to seize numerous digital devices in Bonner’s army quarters which all linked back to him. From the point of his arrest, we were able to quickly establish that he had a large amount of child sexual abuse material in his possession along with extreme images involving a child and another involving an animal.
“We were also able to prove his efforts to engage in sexual communication with children and causing a child to engage in sexual activity. His offending is truly reprehensible, and we are glad that Bonner is now behind bars for a significant period of time.
“Crucially, he will be subject to robust public protection measures for the rest of his life.”
