A St Neots man has today (Thursday) been sentenced after admitting possession of indecent images of children.

Clive Hemming, of Marquis Close, Eaton Socon, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to the possession of type A, B and C pornographic images of children.

The 61-year-old appeared at Cambridge Magistrate’s Court and was given a 24-month community order and must undertake 120 hours of unpaid work.

He was also issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years preventing him from having any contact with children under the age of 18.

Hemming will also be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years.

The court heard how Hemming had logged onto an internet chat room, and met a woman called Emily. After chatting to Emily, she asked him to visit a second site.

Emily disclosed to Hemming that she had been abused when she was younger. As a result she was trying to locate indecent images and videos of herself from when she was 10 years old.

The court then heard how Hemming agreed to help Emily find these images and he downloaded them to a zip file.

Acting on intelligence, officers visited his home in St Neots, where they seized his laptop and mobile phone.

Officers from the Cambridgeshire police Paedophile Online Investigation Unit discovered one category A image, three cateogry B images and 15 category C images.

In mitigation, Kevin Warboys said: “Mr Hemming pleaded guilty straight away. He has no previous convictions and I feel that in this situation he was just naïve. Emily wasn’t the person and the friend that the defendant thought she was.”

Presiding magistrate Alan Jones said: “You are a man who clearly recognises that you have done something wrong. The prosecution has explained the context of what has happened and it was naivety on your part. Therefore I think it needs to be dealt with in the community.”

Hemming was also told to pay £85 to the court and ordered to pay an £85 victim surcharge.

If you are concerned about what you are looking at online, or the online behaviour of someone you know, you can call the confidential and anonymous ‘Stop It Now’ helpline on 0808 1000 900 for advice, support and help to stop. Or visit https://get-help.stopitnow.org.uk/ to find out more