British Army veteran, 33, who was shot by the Taliban in Afghanistan is jailed for almost three years for hoarding images of child torture and bestiality
- Godfred Sarpong had a ‘grotesque’ stash of child abuse and bestiality images
- 33-year-old former soldier pleaded guilty to several offences earlier this month
- He was jailed for 35 months and received a Sexual Harm Prevention Order
A former squaddie shot by the Taliban in Afghanistan has been unmasked as a depraved paedophile who hoarded sickening images of child torture and bestiality.
Godfred Sarpong, 33, was found with a stash of ‘grotesque’ photos, including a person performing a sex act with a frog and films of others having intercourse with a live snake and a dog.
Father-of-one Sarpong shared a string of revolting images with up to 36 users via WhatsApp.
Of those showing children being sexually exploited in horrific ways, a court heard one included a newborn being ‘horrendously abused’.
Sarpong also had deleted images of dead bodies and mutilation when his mobile was seized at his then-home in Folkestone, Kent, in September 2018.
Godfred Sarpong, 33, was found with a stash of ‘grotesque’ photos, including a person performing a sex act with a frog and films of others having intercourse with a live snake and a dog. Of those showing children being sexually exploited in horrific ways, one included a newborn being ‘horrendously abused’
Sarpong suffers from PTSD after being shot by the Taliban and then stabbed by a fellow soldier while serving in the forces.
He was jailed for almost three years at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday, February 10, after he admitted three counts of possessing extreme pornographic images of animals between 2016 and 2018.
Sarpong, who now lives in Hackney, east London, also pleaded guilty to six further offences relating to images involving children.
Wearing a white shirt, Sarpong leaned forward, pressed his head against the Perspex panel in the dock and wept, after the judge passed the sentence of 35 months in prison.
The Judge also handed him a lifetime of notification requirements and an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order, restricting his Internet use and banning him from contacting children without supervision.
A general view of Canterbury Crown Court in Canterbury, Kent
Peter Alcock, prosecuting, told the court how police discovered the obscene cache of content while analysing Sarpong’s iPhone for a separate case.
Judge Recorder Bernard Richmond KC branded Sarpong’s pictures ‘sickening’ and ‘grotesque’.
He told the defendant: ‘Nobody with any sense of reason or decency would want to do anything with those images other than throw them away or refer them to the police.
‘Unfortunately, what you did was not just keep them, but distribute them.’
Chris Waymont, in mitigation, said Sarpong ‘holds his hands up’ to his illegal acts.
He added: ‘He wanted you to be aware he knew about the impact his actions had, not just on the children involved, but also on wider society.’
He said Sarpong was helping to pay for the healthcare of his ailing mother through his £650 a week courier job based in Dagenham, east London.
Mr Waymont said his client has since been volunteering for the British Red Cross and Help for Heroes.
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