Man in possession of sexually explicit material involving children is jailed

A man found in possession of sexually explicit material involving children has been jailed for five years.

Connor Stephens, who had previously lived at multiple addresses in the Boston area, appeared at Lincoln Crown Court on Thursday, 11 July for sentencing.

The 21-year-old had pleaded guilty to three breaches of a sexual harm prevention order as well as possession of child sexual abuse material, prohibited material and extreme pornography.

He was also sentenced for perverting the course of justice and breaching a suspended sentence order.

Stephens was sentenced to five years in prison, given five years extended licence and handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

The Sexual Harm Prevention Order breaches were discovered in November 2023, after two of Stephens’ devices were hidden from MOSOVO, and upon discovery the devices were found to house explicit material.

Some 21,000 images/videos were found.

Stephens then alleged he had been sexually assaulted in an unconnected incident, but further investigation and CCTV evidence found the claim to be untrue.

DS Nicola Stafford said: “An awful lot of work went into this case across several different departments – Response, MOSOVO, POLIT, DFU, Prison Intel and Boston PVP.*

“MOSOVO worked to manage Stephens in line with his SHPO, a digital media investigator within POLIT conducted both cloud extractions, essentially evidencing 1000s of indecent images.

“DFU who went above and beyond to ensure that urgent device downloads and uploads were done  within a  tight timeframe for court.

“Prison Intelligence Officers assisted the officer in charge, so Stephens could be interviewed about the offences whilst he was on remand.

PVP officers at Boston and within POLIT were the OIC’s for both image and pervert the course of justice offences.

“It really was a brilliant example of an interdepartmental effort, spanning several months from November 2023 to now.”

*

MOSOVO – Management of sex offenders and violent offenders (MOSOVO

POLIT – Paedophile Online Investigation Team

DFU – Digital Forensics Unit

PVP – Protecting Vulnerable Persons