Cornish ex-officer jailed for indecent images of children

Robert Branney (pictured) from St Austell, Cornwall, was caught with pictures of children being raped

An ex-police officer who worked as part of a child protection team has been jailed after being caught with indecent images of children for the second time in a year.

Robert Branney, 71, who was in the police force for 28 years, was caught last year on internet chatrooms with other paedophiles.

He was given an eight-month suspended sentence in May 2016 for possessing indecent images of children on his laptop – but today was sentenced at Truro Crown Court, Cornwall, to 14 months behind bars after being found with 258 more indecent images and therefore breaching the terms of his first sentence.

The latest images are of children as young as five and some were in the most severe category, such as ones of children being raped.

Branney from St Austell, Cornwall, pleaded guilty to one charge of making indecent images of a child.

Ramsay Quaife, prosecuting, told the court that the offences took place after Branney was arrested for last year’s charges.

‘The offence came to light when police noticed a Category C image was uploaded to a website in July last year,’ he said.

‘Officers investigated the username which identified the home address.

Branney was given an eight-month suspended sentence in May 2016 for possessing indecent images of children on his laptop - but today was sentenced at Truro Crown Court (pictured) to 14 months behind bars after being found with more indecent images

Branney was given an eight-month suspended sentence in May 2016 for possessing indecent images of children on his laptop – but today was sentenced at Truro Crown Court (pictured) to 14 months behind bars after being found with more indecent images

‘The paedophile online investigation then launched a search of the address on December 9 last year.’

Two devices were then seized which were found to contain 25 still Category A images and one film, 36 Category B stills and 197 Category C stills. 

Branney's defence lawyer said the paedophile 'deeply regrets the situation'

Branney’s defence lawyer said the paedophile ‘deeply regrets the situation’

Officers also discovered file-sharing software and specific child porn internet searches.

Defending Branney, Chris Spencer said he ‘deeply regrets the situation’ and his wife and family had been deeply affected by the hostility shown towards them following the crimes, particularly evident on social media.

‘His wife has left the home they shared and community they’ve been a part of for many years,’ said Mr Spencer.

‘He’s at a loss to explain how he has fallen to this point and we can only speculate the impact of experiences during his service have had on his moral reasoning.’

Sentencing, Judge Simon Carr said: ‘On May 12 of last year this court passed a suspended sentence for almost identical offences but you clearly manipulated and misled all those trying to help you.

‘Throughout the whole court process you were committing more offences and continued to do so after the sentence was imposed.

‘You were turning up to various events designed to address your problems convincing those there that you were engaging. The images seized included images of the highest category showing the forced rape of children.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk