Tuesday 30 March 2010
‘Significant’ jail term for child sex offender identified through abuse images
A man has been sentenced yesterday to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to 14 child sexual abuse offences at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
Jonathan Bowen, 45, had previously admitted to 12 offences – including the rape and sexual abuse of a three year old girl, five counts of making indecent images of children and five counts of distributing indecent images of children – at a hearing that was held on Monday 4 January 2010.
He was arrested by West Mercia Police in June 2009 after Canadian law enforcement officers passed intelligence to the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre. Bowen was then identified by CEOP as distributing the indecent images of the very abuse he had perpetrated, to other individuals over the internet.
He was given an Indeterminate Public Protection sentence and will not be considered for parole for five and a half years.
Speaking outside Shrewsbury Crown Court, DC Heywood-Small who works in the Public Protection Unit at Malinsgate Police Station said:
“This has been a harrowing case to investigate and I am very pleased that this man has been given a significant prison term. The offences he committed were evil and were carried out so that he could attempt to satisfy his own twisted fantasies.
“There is no doubt it will take his victims and their families some considerable time to come to terms with what this man did but I hope that the sentence he will now have to serve at least offers them some small consolation. I cannot speak highly enough of the way they conducted themselves throughout our investigation and I would like to thank them for their help in achieving this successful outcome today.
“On receiving e intelligence from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, an investigation was launched locally which led to the arrest of Jonathan Bowen. The evidence against him eventually became so overwhelming that he was forced to admit to his guilt and the charges brought against him.”
Ruth Allen, Head of Intelligence at the CEOP Centre adds:
“The reality today is that law enforcement agencies work regularly across local, national and international borders to tackle individuals like Jonathan Bowen, who think they can sexually abuse children without consequence.
"The anonymity that the internet offers is simply an illusion and we will continue to use technology against offenders and track their digital footprint to hold them to account in order to protect children from abuse.”
ENDS
For the West Mercia Police Press Office, call 01952 214 639
For the CEOP Press Office contact 0870 000 3434
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre works in both the online and offline environments to protect children from sexual exploitation. Full information on all areas of work as well as online safety messages and access to online reporting can be found at www.ceop.police.uk.
CHILD ABUSE IMAGES, NOT ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’
Use of the phrase ‘child pornography’ actually benefits child sex abusers:
- It indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser
- It conjures up images of children posing in ‘provocative’ positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse
Every photograph captures an actual situation where a child has been abused. This is not pornography.
