Respected villager Andrew Davies in child porn downfall

A former chairman of school governors faces jail after admitting possessing more than 50,000 indecent images of
children.

Andrew Davies, 51, was arrested in a dawn raid at his home at Cherry Burton, near Beverley, last year following a US-led investigation into people accessing child abuse websites.

Police seized his computer and discovered thousands of images on the machine.

Davies - described by neighbours as "the most central figure in the village after the vicar" - pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court to eight counts of making and possessing indecent photos of children, which included level-four graded photos. The worst grading is level five.

Davies, who had been charged relating to images he had between September 20, 2005 and February 23, 2008, is to be sentenced later this month.

Judge John Dowse told him: "You are likely to be going to prison in light of the pleas you have given and you will also be obliged to sign the sex offenders' list."

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement team gathered details of people who were using credit cards to download images from the websites.

Speaking after the hearing Lynn Topham, of the internet sex offender investigation section at Humberside Police, said: "We got a warrant to search Mr Davies' premises on March 5 and took his computer equipment for forensic examinations and arrested him.

"He was interviewed again after the results of the forensic examinations were found out in November last year, when the quantity of images he had was taken into consideration. The case then went to the Crown Prosecution Service and he was charged in January this year.

"He was charged purely off the US-led investigation."

According to neighbours, Davies, a parent governor at Cherry Burton Primary School from 2002 to 2006 and chairman of governors in the final year, was heavily involved in the local community, a key figure in putting on the village pantomine and getting the new children's playground in the village built.

Neighbour Chris Benson said on Easter Day last year Davies was carrying the cross as part of the Easter religious procession. He said residents were amazed to discover the truth behind a man seen as a pillar of society.

He said: "We are all just in shock.

"He did such a convincing job of putting up a mask of respectability, it is difficult to take in."

Another Cherry Burton resident, Clare Tennison, said: "It's the last thing you expect to happen round here. It's such a quiet place."

The American Cyber Crimes Center Child Exploitation Section (CES), which is part of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investigates large-scale producers and distributors of images of child abuse, employing the latest technology to collect evidence and track the activities of individuals and groups who sexually exploit children through the use of websites, chat rooms, newsgroups and peer-to-peer trading.

East Riding Council would not comment beyond confirming the dates when Davies worked at the school. He was cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau in May 2006.

He will be sentenced in the week beginning April 27.

Yorkshire Post