A registered sex offender from Halstead who admitted making indecent images of children has avoided jail after being sentenced at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on November 15.

Jake West, 20, of Church Road in Halstead, was given a six-month jail sentence suspended for 12 months, and put on the sex offenders register for seven years.

The court heard that officers from the Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders team (MOSOVO) visited the home of West – a registered sex offender – on January 17 this year.

They searched the house and seized a Playstation 4 which was found to contain two category C images featuring children being abused.

West admitted a charge of making indecent images of children, and was also sentenced to 180 hours of unpaid work and a 40 day rehabilitation requirement.

Following the sentencing Detective Sargeant Howard from Essex Police, said: “We will continue to proactively and robustly target those offenders who download, distribute or make indecent images of children.

“People may believe this type of crime is not harmful because they are not physically abusing a child.

“But children are physically abused in order to create those images in the first place and every time those pictures of films are viewed or passed on, those children are being exploited again.”

West is one of more than 40 offenders arrested during a crackdown aimed at targeting offenders downloading, making and distributing indecent images of children online.

Over the last 10 months, using an intelligence-led approach, a dedicated team of specialist officers have targeted those carrying out this type of offence.

The team have worked alongside and in support of Essex Police’s existing specialist Police Online Investigation Team (POLIT) and Child Abuse Investigation Teams (CAIT).

The Lucy Faithfull Foundation is the only UK-wide child protection charity focused solely on preventing child sexual abuse. The charity runs Stop it Now! – a child sexual abuse prevention campaign and helpline

For more information on how Stop it Now! helps people address their online behaviour, please visit the website www.stopitnow.org.uk or call the confidential Stop it Now! Helpline on 0808 1000 900.