A former police chaplain has been jailed for 15 months after he pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children.
Stephen Talbot, 63, of Main Street, Little Downham, was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court today (Friday).
He had also admitted perverting the course of justice by removing a hard drive from his computer, smashing it and depositing it in bins.
Talbot was arrested in October last year. He was chaplain for Cambridgeshire police but resigned on the day of his arrest.
He admitted a charge of making 14 indecent images of children ranging from category A to C and possessing four category C indecent images of children.
Det Supt Gary Ridgway, head of the Cambridgeshire police Public Protection Department, said: “The length of the sentence reflects the severity of Talbot’s offences.
“We have no evidence to suggest that he personally abused children but the making and possessing of images of this kind fuels child sexual abuse’.
“Some of the images were at the highest level and he exacerbated his crimes by deliberately destroying evidence, meaning we cannot know the true extent of his offending.
“Safeguarding the most vulnerable in society is at the very heart of policing in Cambridgeshire and we are committed to bringing those who target them to justice.”
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