Ex-councillor jailed over child abuse images

Desmond Gibbons was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday

An ex-councillor who made and distributed "vile and disgusting" images of children has been jailed for 21 months.

Desmond Gibbons, who represented a Gedling Borough Council ward in Nottinghamshire, had accessed and created images of child abuse and shared them with others online, with police finding hundreds of illegal images on his mobile phone and laptop, a court heard.

The 67-year-old, of Station Road in Ollerton, admitted three counts of making indecent photographs of a child, one count of distributing indecent photographs of a child, and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image.

He was sentenced on Friday at Nottingham Crown Court.

Warning: This article contains distressing details.

The court heard police had received intelligence about indecent images of children being uploaded to the internet through an account connected to the defendant, and he was arrested in April this year.

Rawaid Javed, prosecuting, said Gibbons told officers he knew what they were looking for, and showed them how to access his mobile phone.

A laptop was also found and analysed by officers.

"A large amount of indecent images of children were found," said Mr Javed.

"The majority of the images contained young female children, some as young as three."

In total 686 images were found, 115 of which were of the most serious Category A type, with two also featuring images of bestiality.

The court heard Gibbons shared images showing children "bound, gagged and visibly in distress", and also had conversations online where he shared "graphic details disclosing how he wanted to sexually abuse" children.

'Dark side'

Defending, Luc Chignell said Gibbons had admitted sharing "vile and disgusting" images, but had previously had an "unblemished record" through decades of public service.

He said the defendant had shown a "genuine and sincere" attempt to understand what had led him to offend.

"There's something wrong with him, and he wants to understand what that is," he said.

"The rest of his life will be lived very differently from the 67 years before it."

Judge Balraj Bhatia KC, who passed sentence on Gibbons, said the offences were carried out "for his own sexual gratification, and for the sexual gratification no doubt of like-minded people".

He said the behaviour showed a hidden character that was "dark, sinister, sexualised and above all criminal".

"There's a dark side to you, a dark side which was kept from your family and kept from anyone else and everyone else that you know," he said.

"I'm of the view that [these offences] are so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence fully reflects the criminality that you have been involved with."

As well as serving a custodial sentence, Gibbons must also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order and sign the sex offenders register, both for a period of 10 years.

In August the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said he had stepped down from representing the Bestwood St Albans ward due to ill health.

David White, chairman of St Albans Parish Council, was present at the sentencing hearing.

"Having listened to the case, I believe that he's a vile and manipulative individual that has let his community and his family down, and my thoughts are with the victims," he said.