Southend paedophile found with 8,000 plus indecent images jailed
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A paedophile who was found with more than 8,000 indecent images of children, and posed as a teenage boy to encourage young girls to send indecent images to him, has been jailed.
Matthew Toms contacted two girls on Instagram while posing as a teenager from Scotland and sent them indecent images between May and June last year.
When it became clear he wasn’t who he claimed to be, it was reported to us and he was arrested by Southend CID.
While on bail he was visited in October by our Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders team (MOSOVO), to ensure he was sticking to the terms of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
During this visit Toms disclosed to officers he a hard driven hidden in his bedroom which contained thousands of indecent images and videos of children and he was further arrested.
When these images and videos were analysed, it was established that he taken some of them himself.
He was then arrested for a third time when officers found two memory cards in his bedroom when carrying out a search at his home in Dalmatia Road, Southend, in January, breaching the conditions of SHPO.
The 41 year-old was charged with voyeurism, breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, making indecent images of children, engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a child, and engaging in sexual communication with a child.
He admitted the offences and at Basildon Crown Court on Wednesday 22 July he was jailed for six years with a further five on licence.
He was also made subject of a lifetime SHPO.
Detective Inspector Nathan Hutchinson, from MOSOVO, said: “Matthew Toms is clearly a danger to children and poses a risk to their safety.
“He continued offending despite his arrest and it was some good work by my team which ensured that offending was detected.
“His conviction and sentencing is the result of some excellent team work from MOSOVO and Southend CID.
“Each team worked on a different aspect of this investigation and worked to put together a case which left Toms with no option but to admit his guilt.
“It is team work like this which means that no paedophile or sexual offender can feel secure from a knock on the door from Essex Police.”