Former GP caught with 1.2m indecent images of children jailed
- Published
David Shaw admitted being sexually attracted to young girls during police interview
A former GP and paediatrician who amassed more than 1.2m child sexual abuse images has been jailed for more than two years.
David Shaw's haul of indecent images was one of the largest National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators had seen.
Shaw, 48, used anonymisation techniques on a peer-to-peer network to try to hide his downloading of pictures.
When he was arrested, he had images from categories A to C on 16 devices. The NCA said the scale was "shocking".
Shaw described himself as a "criminal" and a "bad person" who admitted having a sexual interest in young girls, the NCA said.
Shaw, who was jailed at Maidstone Crown Court, said he had been expecting a visit from officers
Shaw trained at Guy's Hospital Medical School and graduated in 2004, the NCA said.
He was registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) and practised as a GP between 2005 and 2013, after which his GMC membership lapsed and he no longer worked as a doctor.
After he was arrested at his former home in Maidstone, Kent, he admitted downloading indecent images of children since 2005, and had been expecting a visit from officers, an NCA spokesperson said.
Shaw, from Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton, in Somerset, pleaded guilty to three counts of making and possessing indecent images of children.
He was sentenced to two years and two months in jail at Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday.
He was also given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
Tony Smith, an NCA senior investigator, said after sentencing: "This is one of the largest collections of child sexual abuse images that the NCA has ever dealt with, the scale of which was shocking.
"Not only did Shaw abuse his position of trust, he helped fuel the sickening trade in child sexual abuse images by downloading this material, which re-victimises every child."
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