A man from Shefford has been jailed for four years for sexually assaulting a young girl and downloading child sex abuse images on his computer and other devices.
Police found the material after visiting Justin Sandilands’ home in September 2019.
They had gone to the address in Church Street, Shefford after receiving information that he had been viewing the material.
Luton Crown Court heard that when the items seized were examined it was found he had 36 Category A images of youngsters as young as eight being abused.
This is the level given to the very worst depraved material found online.
He also had 123 Category B images, the next level down in seriousness and thousands of Category C images.
Officers could also see the search terms Sandilands had been using to seek out the sickening material on the internet, some of which included moving images of child sex abuse.
In court on Friday, August 13, 2021, he appeared for sentence having pleaded guilty earlier to sexual assault on a child, three offences of making indecent images of a child and one offence of possessing a prohibited image.
Judge Gary Lucy jailed him for a total of four years and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the devices on which the material had been found.
Sandilands was also told he would be made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order which will, once he is released, monitor his internet use.
