Peterborough Volunteer Jailed

17 February 2010, 12:46 | Updated: 17 February 2010, 13:25

A man from Orton Goldhay, who used to be a volunteer with the Sea Cadets (Peterborough Sea Cadets Building - pictured right), has been jailed for downloading pornographic images of children.

53 year old Garry Hunt, who was also the chairman of the Royal British Legion in Peterborough, viewed hundreds of images of young girls being abused and assaulted, a court heard.

He was today convicted of making 326 indecent images of children after a trial in January.

Hunt has been jailed for 12 months and been given a sexual offences prevention order, banning him from being in the presence of a child without another adult and forbidding him to take part in an organised activity where he would supervise children.

He has also been placed onto the sex offenders register for ten years.

Peterborough Crown Court heard that Hunt viewed the images on his computer at home between March 2007 and May 2008.

Alex Milne, mitigating, said since Hunt's arrest in 2008, his life "lies in ruins around him" friends had "shunned" him and his wife has left him.

Judge Peter de Mille, sentencing, said: "Every one of these images is a picture of a child being abused or assaulted and those who make these images, like you, encourage that abuse."

According to Cambridgeshire Police, an investigation into Hunt was started when his credit card was used to pay for illegal websites.

The payment was made in November 2006, however Police did not learn about it until late 2007 or early 2008.

Detective Sergeant Angelika Peters, from Cambridgeshire Police's Public Protection Department, worked on the case since May 2008.

DS Peters said: "He presented himself as a respectable figure and no one had any idea what he was doing before this information came to light.

Investigations revealed he had been looking at images of young children up to the most depraved level.

This case should serve as a warning to people who look at these type of images that they should not presume they will remain anonymous."