Cambridge paedophile found with over 2,000 indecent images of children

DC Andrew McKeane, who investigated, said that the images are the ‘worst he’s graded’ since moving into his role about five years ago

A paedophile has been found to have over 2,000 indecent images of children stored on his device, as well as on a cloud storage app linked to him. Ben Sharpe, 31, was visited by the officers at his home in the Huntingdon Road area of Cambridge at about 1.15pm on January 31.

Sharpe, who had already been convicted of indecent images of children offences in 2021, handed over his mobile phone to one of the officers working for the force’s management of sexual and violent offenders (MOSOVO) for them to examine.

The 31-year-old admitted to deleting some apps from the phone before he let the officers in and was arrested. The phone was examined, and 2,188 indecent images of children were found to have been stored on the device, as well as on a cloud storage app linked to Sharpe.

He had also breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) handed down following the 2021 conviction by uninstalling mobile internet browsers, failing to provide police access to his cloud storage, deleting apps and installing a storage cleaner on his phone.

On Thursday, May 21, at Peterborough Crown Court, Sharpe, of Brooks Road, Cambridge, was jailed for two years and six months, having pleaded guilty to four counts of breaching a SHPO, three counts of making indecent photographs of children and one count each of possessing a prohibited image of a child and possessing an extreme pornographic image. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

DC Andrew McKeane, who investigated, said: “The images are the worst I’ve graded since moving into my current role about five years ago so I’m happy Sharpe has been jailed. He clearly hasn’t learned anything from his previous conviction.

“Officers from MOSOVO will always check on convicted sex offenders in the county to make sure they are adhering to their conditions and court orders. In this case, a routine visit has uncovered further offences which has led to a repeat paedophile being jailed.”