Work of Police on Child Porn Cases Praised

Four women and one male detective who had to examine tens of thousands of sick images of babies and toddlers being sexually abused have been commended by their chief constable.

Detective constables Anne Wraith and Sharon Robson teamed up to unravel what Durham Police have described as the worst child pornography probe ever undertaken by the force.

The probe centred on a bookshop in the genteel market town of Barnard Castle, County Durham, owned by perverted Philip Webb, 53.

Webb used the respectable cover of the shop, All Things Books, on The Bank, Barnard Castle, to store vile images of toddlers and babies involved in sexual activity with adults, and even images of very young children involved in scenes of sadism and bestiality.

Yesterday a Durham Police spokesman said the two women had to examine 36,500 indecent images from computers and discs.

He added: ?Many images were labelled as level five, the most serious category nationally. The child victims involved, some just babies, were thought to have been seriously or, in some cases fatally, injured.?

In June, Webb, a father of two, was sentenced to three years and three months in jail after admitting 17 charges of possessing and distributing indecent images.

Det Consts Wraith and Robson have been praised for their consummate professionalism and tireless work by Chief Constable Jon Stoddart for their work in painstakingly categorising the images seized into levels between one and five. In a second, unconnected internet porn investigation, Det Sgt Tracey Walker and Det Consts Yvonne Dutson and Dave Kennedy are to receive official commendations for their work in bringing former probation chief Vincent Barron, of Kirk Rise, Frosterley, County Durham, to justice.

Barron, 50, who was on secondment to the Home Office from Northumbria Police in charge of setting up a register of sex offenders, was jailed for two years and nine months in May after he indulged in the type of behaviour he was tasked with stamping out. He pleaded guilty at Durham Crown Court to possessing 3,800 indecent images of children and distributing them to like-minded perverts.

Again detectives were forced to look through sick images of babies and toddlers being sexually abused.

Barron also visited chat rooms, sharing graphic racist and sadistic fantasies with strangers.

Det Const Dutson said after he was sentenced: "I am pleased he has been jailed. Considering his position in authority, and the vile chat-room fantasies, on top of the indecent images, this is the worst case of its kind I have come across."

Journal Live