Suspended jail sentence for Rustington man over thousands of indecent images of children and animals

Keith Stanton, 62, of Broadmark Way in Rustington, was sentenced to a total of 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, at a hearing at Lewes Crown Court last Monday (April 15).

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said Stanton received an 18-month sentence for making 934 category A images of children – the most explicit categorisation.

He also received six-month sentences for making more than 2,000 category B and C images, and three-month sentences for possessing images of a person committing a serious sexual offence against an animal and possessing a prohibited image of a child, all to run concurrently, the spokesman said.

Stanton was ordered to undertake 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirement, said the spokesman, and was ordered to pay £340 in costs. He was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

He had previously pleaded guilty to all five charges at a hearing at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on February 11.

At the hearing, the court heard that Stanton was caught by a specialist investigation team which tracked him using his computer’s IP address.

A search of his property found several devices in his home and vehicle containing the illicit images.

Some of the victims were aged between three and five years old, the court heard, with the photographs made ‘over a period of time and on a number of devices’.