A former GP and paediatrician was caught with one of the largest collections of child sexual abuse images the National Crime Agency has ever seen.
David Shaw used anonymisation techniques on peer-to-peer sharing network and website Freenet to download indecent images of children before the NCA was able to establish his real identity. The 48-year-old was arrested at his former home in Maidstone, Kent in February 2019, and when his devices were searched, 16 of them were found with 1,278,256 images in categories A-C (A being the most severe).
The categories were explained to him and Shaw told officers all three types of images would be found on his devices. Shaw had trained at Guy's Hospital Medical School and graduated in 2004. He was then registered with the General Medical Council and practised as a GP between 2005 and 2013 before his GMC membership lapsed and he no longer worked as a doctor.
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When he was interviewed, Shaw described himself as a criminal and a "bad" person as well as admitting to being sexually attracted to pre-pubescent girls. He added that he had become depressed when he tried to stop viewing indecent images of children, this was when he stopped working as a GP.
Shaw was charged with three counts of making and possessing indecent images of children and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court on October 18, 2022. David Shaw, 48, from Taunton Somerset, was sentenced yesterday (Wednesday) to two years and two months in prison.
When sentencing him, HH Judge Saxby said that as a specialist in paediatrics, Shaw would have been more aware than others of the harm inflicted on children in the images he downloaded. Shaw was also handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.
NCA Senior Investigator Tony Smith said: "This is one of the largest collections of child sexual abuse images that the NCA has ever dealt with, the scale of which was shocking. Not only did Shaw abuse his position of trust, he helped fuel the sickening trade in child sexual abuse images by downloading this material, which re-victimises every child.
"Tragically, behind these images are vulnerable children being exploited just to satisfy paedophiles. The NCA continues to pursue offenders like Shaw, make them accountable for their actions and to protect victims of online child sexual abuse.”
If you think you or someone you know has been a victim of child sexual abuse, you should report it to police on 101. Always call 999 in an emergency.
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