Cambridgeshire Paedophile Jailed

2 December 2010, 09:43 | Updated: 2 December 2010, 09:57

A Cambridgeshire man, who abused children and possessed a number of indecent images of them, has been jailed.

56 year old Gordon Saunders [pictured - right], who used to live in the village of Warboys but now lives in Huntingdon, was arrested back in July 2008.

It was after detectives found out that he had been accessing restricted websites.

Computer equipment was then seized from his home, and police discovered more than eight thousand indecent images of children.

Analysis of the photos suggested Saunders may have taken some of the pictures himself and an investigation was started.

Several of his young victims, including a nine year old, were then traced.

Saunders has admitted possessing more than 8,500 indecent images of children, with 54 of those in the most serious level five category.

He pleaded guilty to nine charges of sexual assault on a child, one count of gross indecency with a child and eight counts of making or possessing the images during the first day of a trial at Peterborough Crown Court.

He has now been jailed for four years, and is also the subject of a sexual offences prevention order.

This means Saunders is banned from working with children and also restricts his internet access.

Detective Constable Tony Cox, who led the investigation, said: "Saunders is a sexual predator who took advantage of several young children over a long period of time.

This case started out as an investigation into online child pornography, but we uncovered abuse going back many years.

It shows the importance of targeting people who use the internet to trade indecent images and how this type of crime has very real victims."