Paedophile who sexually assaulted child and hoarded thousands of indecent images is jailed

Sickening Stephen Newell, 48, of St Mary’s Road, London, came to officers’ attention as a Portsmouth resident when an online account linked to him uploaded an indecent image of a child to the internet earlier this year.

Hampshire police’s internet child abuse team subsequently carried out an investigation, which led to the seizure of a number of devices, including a laptop and mobile phones that had inappropriate content on them.

During the investigation, horrified detectives were able to uncover that Newell had also sexually abused a young boy and recorded the footage.

Newell was arrested in February this year and subsequently charged with two counts of taking indecent photographs of a child, one count of making indecent photographs of children, three counts of distributing/showing indecent photographs/indecent pseudo-photographs of a child/children, one count of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, two counts of assault of a child under 13 by penetration and three counts of sexual assault of a child under 13.

He pleaded guilty to all charges and appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court where he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Sentencing him, Judge Recorder Robert Bright QC said he found the pervert’s actions ‘profoundly disturbing’ and said they would have a ‘devastating impact’ on the victim.

He said: ‘They will have lifelong consequences [for the victim].’

DC Stephen Hill, who is officer in charge of the case, said: ‘The sexual abuse of children causes unfathomable damage, and I hope that this sentence provides some justice for the victim, who will continue to receive support from partner services.

‘We take all reports of sexual assault extremely seriously, and will do everything in our power to bring those responsible to justice.

‘It is so important to us that people have the confidence to report these incidents to us, whether they have happened to you or somebody you know. It is also important to us that survivors and their families are provided with the support they need, and we work in partnership with other organisations to ensure this happens.’

Newell must serve at least half of his sentence and will remain on licence for a further eight years.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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