Man jailed for child indecent image offences

A man who collected and built a comprehensive library of indecent images of children has today (5 September) been jailed.

Sean Dempster of Welland Road in Lincoln appeared at Lincoln Crown Court where he was jailed for a total of three years.

The 31-year-old was first brought to our attention following a referral that a user of a Sony PlayStation account had uploaded a Category C indecent image of a child online.

Officers arrested Dempster on 21 May 2024 on suspicion of distributing indecent images of children and seized his mobile phone for examination. Digital media investigators found over 20,000 Category A-C indecent images of children on his phone.

Chat logs from Telegram and KIK were also found and revealed that Dempster, in addition to making indecent images of children by downloading and saving them, was also sending images and videos to other users.

Detectives also found chat logs where Dempster was causing/inciting what is believed to be children to commit sexual acts upon themselves and talking to them in a sexual manner.

Another referral from Instagram on 31 March this year was made to the force that Category A videos of children were sent in a private chat. Enquiries revealed that the account belonged to Dempster and that he had sent these images whilst he was on bail.

Dempster had also started using a new phone, which was later seized along with an iPad he tried to hide under a pillow from officers during a search of the property. He was immediately arrested for further offences and upon examining his phone and iPad, detectives found 5261 more Category A-C indecent images of children as well as 165 prohibited images of children.

Investigations revealed that Dempster had been in possession of a total of over 20,000 indecent images of children and had also distributed around 340 images of children online.

The case was taken to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) whilst Dempster was in police custody, and the 31-year-old was charged with three further offences of making indecent images of children and one charge of possession of prohibited images of children.

Dempster was remanded to custody and has remained there awaiting sentencing which has taken place today.  

He was sentenced to 30 months for distributing Category A images, which are the most serious types of indecent images of children. He was also guilty of the following and the sentences are to run concurrently:

• Distributing Category B indecent images of children, for which he was sentenced to nine months
• Distributing Category C indecent images of children, for which he was sentenced to three months
• Attempting to incite a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, for which he was sentenced to 24 months

He was also jailed for six months for making Category A indecent images of children and was guilty of the following. The sentences below will also run concurrently:

• Making Category B indecent images of children, for which he was sentenced to six months
• Making Category C indecent images of children, for which he was sentenced to six months
• Possession of prohibited images of children, for which he was sentenced to three months

Dempster will also be added to the Sex Offenders’ Register, has been given a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and has also been given a lifetime notification requirement.

Detective Constable Nicola Paradowski and Detective Constable Laura Gavin worked the case together. They said: “It is evident from this case that Dempster has a relentless sexual interest in young children and that he is prepared to exploit children for his own sexual gratification. The sheer volume of indecent images that Dempster possessed was incomprehensible with some of the most disgusting and disturbing images and videos we have viewed. 

“These 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.  Perpetrators of this type of crime often believe they will go unnoticed, but hopefully this investigation reassures the public that Lincolnshire Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team will relentlessly pursue anyone who engages in such heinous behaviour”.