Paediatrician who held over 1.2million child sex abuse images jailed

Paediatrician who amassed more than 1.2million child sex abuse images for vile collection dubbed ‘one of the largest ever’ by police is jailed for two years

• David Shaw, 48, was arrested at his former home in Maidstone, Kent, in 2019
• He admitted three counts of making and possessing indecent images of children

A former GP and paediatrician who was caught with one of the largest ever hauls of child sexual abuse images has been jailed for more than two years.

David Shaw, 48, amassed more than one million photographs of children across 16 devices.

The former GP and paediatrician, from Taunton, Somerset, used anonymisation techniques on a sharing network Freenet to download 1,278,256 indecent images of children.

Shaw admitted three counts of making and possessing indecent images of children at Maidstone Crown Court on 18 October last year.

He was arrested by National Crime Association officers at his former home in Maidstone, Kent, in February 2019 after officers at the National Crime Agency pinned down his identity.

David Shaw (pictured), 48, from Maidstone, Kent, amassed more than one million photographs of children across 16 devices

Shaw admitted to officers that images of all three categories of severity would be found on his devices.

He trained at Guy’s Hospital Medical School, graduated in 2004, practising as a GP between 2005 and 2013.

When interviewed, Shaw admitted that he had been downloading indecent images since 2005, and had been expecting a visit from law enforcement at some point.

He admitted being sexually attracted to pre-pubescent girls, describing himself as a ‘bad’ person and a ‘criminal’.

Shaw claimed he became depressed when he tried to cease viewing the images and stopped working as a GP at this point.

Judge Oliver Saxby said that as a specialist in paediatrics, Shaw more than others would have been aware of the harm inflicted on the children in the images he downloaded.

Shaw, of Taunton, Somerset, was charged with three counts of making and possessing indecent images of children at Maidstone Crown Court.

Yesterday, he was sentenced to two years and two months in prison and handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Shaw was sentenced to two years and two months in prison and handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order at Maidstone Crown Court

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 your local police on 101. Always call 999 in an emergency.

Help and advice for children, parents and carers from the NCA’s CEOP Education Team can be found on www.thinkuknow.co.uk

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