A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to more than two years in prison after investigators discovered he possessed over a thousand of the most serious category of child abuse material.
Guiseppe Bottone, of Stone Street, Bradford, was handed a 27-month jail term at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to multiple offences relating to indecent images of children.
Police Constable Scott Tyson, of Bradford District’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team, described Bottone as “a dangerous online sexual predator” and said the case was among the most horrific he had encountered during his career.
The investigation began after another police force provided intelligence about group chats on a private messaging application where indecent images of children were being shared between users. Bottone was identified as a member of the group.
Officers from the Online Child Abuse Investigation Team executed a warrant at his address, arrested him and seized a number of electronic devices. Analysis of the devices revealed large quantities of illegal material.
Bottone was subsequently charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, two counts of distributing indecent images of children and one count of possession of extreme pornography.
In addition to his prison sentence, the court ordered Bottone to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and imposed a sexual harm prevention order for the same period. He was also ordered to pay a £228 victim surcharge.
PC Tyson emphasised that every image represents a victim of abuse. He said: “Behind every picture there is a victim of child abuse. As a police officer this is one of the most horrific cases I’ve had to deal with, the images were abhorrent.”
He reaffirmed the force’s commitment to protecting victims of child sexual abuse and pursuing those responsible through the courts.
The conviction forms part of ongoing efforts by specialist police units to identify and prosecute individuals involved in the online sharing and distribution of child abuse material.
