Paedophile jailed for 'disturbing' images of abuse

The behaviour of people like Philip Cliffe creates a demand for images of abuse, said police

A paedophile found with a horde of images of "the most appalling sexual abuse committed against children" has been jailed.

Detectives linked the internet connection of 41-year-old Philip Cliffe to images of sexual abuse and carried out a raid at his Nottinghamshire home in October 2023.

Electronic devices including a laptop and a memory stick were seized and found to contain thousands of images of children including babies being abused.

Cliffe, of Oakdale Road in Carlton, was jailed for four years at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday.

Forensic analysis of Cliffe's devices found a collection which included about 1,000 Category A images - depicting the most serious abuse that can be perpetrated by adults against children - and extreme adult pornographic material.

'Disgusting and disturbing'

Cliffe declined to answer questions in his police interview, but later pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, possessing a prohibited image of a child and possessing extreme pornographic images.

Alongside his jail sentence, Cliffe will be placed on the sex offenders' register for life and barred from contact with children without parental consent.

Det Con Richard Cashmore said Cliffe owned "some of the most disgusting and disturbing images and videos I have viewed" and hoped his sentence was "a warning".

He added: "I sometimes hear people referring to such material as 'child pornography' - but in reality there is no such thing.

"What there is instead are still and moving images of the most appalling sexual abuse committed against children who are too young to understand let alone consent to what is happening to them."