A Staffordshire manager who posted images of himself sexually assaulting a child online was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Investigators also linked some of Ian Worthington’s images to a device belonging to an Australian sex offender who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2015.
Worthington was arrested in November 2020 after National Crime Agency investigators discovered that he had uploaded child sexual abuse material to the dark web from his home in Cannock, near Birmingham.
Officers searched his home and seized several devices, including a phone and a laptop, which were forensically examined.
Worthington attempted to remain anonymous by using a variety of dark web hidden service forums.
Investigators recovered 20,500 IIOC from his devices, ranging from A to C (A being the most serious).
Among these were 135 Category B and 140 Category C images of Worthington sexually assaulting a child, and there was evidence that they had been distributed online to other paedophiles.
Worthington was charged with one count of sexual assault by touching on a child under the age of 13, three counts of making IIOC (category A-C), and two counts of distributing category B and C IIOC.
On 20 May this year, he pleaded guilty to all charges at Stafford Crown Court and was sentenced to eight years and eight months at the same court on Wednesday.
Online abuse material cannot exist without real-world exploitation of children,” said NCA operations manager Hazel Stewart. As this case demonstrates, there is a clear link between offenders seeking such material and committing sexual abuse. We have extensive capabilities for identifying the most dangerous offenders who use the dark web to remain anonymous. We will go to any length to ensure that they face justice and that children are not exploited.
