Sick Teesside pervert shared child abuse images on Telegram

Police raided the Teesside home of Alan Willis following a tip-off from the National Crime Agency after his online activity roused their interest.

A search of his home resulted in the seizure of a mobile phone where specialist officers recovered more than 200 videos of children being sexually abused, with one lasting for around 35 minutes.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 57-year-old had downloaded 124 Category A files; 52 files of Category B; and a further 47 Category C files.

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Rachel Masters, prosecuting, said the police found evidence of Willis sharing some of the videos with other perverts using the online messenger service Telegram.

She said: “The majority of downloads were videos and one of them was 35 minutes long. The officers also located a copy of the ‘paedophile manual’ which contains 170 pages.”

The forensic examination of the defendant’s phone also showed how he had shared more than 20 videos with two other people over the encrypted network between July 1 and July 22 last year.

Alan Willis (Image: Cleveland Police)

Miss Masters said Willis also shared some of his disturbing sexual fantasies with other people on Telegram.

Willis, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children in Categories A, B, and C, as well as a charge of distributing child abuse images and possession of a ‘paedophile manual’.

John Nixon, mitigating, said his client had lost his family and his good reputation following his admissions.

He said Willis had lead a blameless life until 2019 when he became involved in a conversation with two people on Instagram.

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He added: “It has destroyed his family and destroyed his reputation. His sister is dependent on him but he realises that he will not be returning home today.”

Judge Timothy Stead sentenced Willis to a total of two years for all offences telling him that custody was the only option available to him.

Willis was also made subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order and told he must sign on the sex offenders’ register for the same period of time.