Ashford man jailed for publishing obscene article

A man from Ashford has been sentenced to two years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to publishing an obscene article and two breaches of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Stephen Russell, 56, also pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the notification requirements of his SHPO when he appeared at Guildford Crown Court earlier today (4 December).

He was also given a further Sexual Harm Prevention Order, a deprivation order for his devices and ordered to pay £340 in costs.

Russell was convicted of making indecent images of children and distributing indecent images of children and breaching the conditions of his SHPO in May 2017 and was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment.

Following his release from prison, he was subjected to regular visits by his offender manager. During one of these visits, suspected indecent images were found on a device believed to belong to him.

He was arrested and charged following a lengthy and complex investigation, which eventually resulted in his guilty plea.

Detective Sergeant Ant Preston from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team, said: “The conditions of Russell’s SHPO were clearly defined and he has committed a serious breach. The conditions were imposed to ensure he did not pose a threat or risk to children and he has violated these, which means he will now face more than two years behind bars as a consequence of his blatant disregard for the law.

“I hope that this serves as a clear warning that we will strictly enforce the conditions of such orders and that anyone flouting them will be dealt with extremely seriously.”