A man from Woodford Green has been jailed after downloading more than 200 indecent images of children.

Martin Sparks, 47, of Maldon Walk, was jailed for two years and four months for crimes committed whilst he was already subject to a suspended sentence for the same offence.

He was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Wednesday, January 27 for making indecent images of children (category A) and making indecent images of children (category B).

Sparks was also sentenced for five counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

He pleaded guilty.

The ongoing suspended sentence to which Sparks was subject was reflected in the most recent sentence imposed.

On June 18, 2020, officers from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command executed a search warrant at Sparks’ home following intelligence that indecent images of children had been downloaded at the address via peer-to-peer (p2p) software.

Sparks initially denied any knowledge of illegal online activity, but later admitted breaches (five in total) of his SHPO and having downloaded and viewed child abuse images.

Officers seized a computer tower, which Sparks used to download the illegal images – this related to three of the breaches. Officers also found an electronic tablet, which was a breach due to it not being declared to his public protection unit manager.

The remaining breach was for connecting to the home’s router to use the internet when he downloaded the images.

A custody search found two USB digital storage devices in Sparks' shoes, wherein 233 category A (the most serious) child abuse videos and 17 category B images were found.

Det Con James Cavenham, the investigating officer, said: “Sparks is now behind bars after committing the same hideous offence once again. The evidence we gathered against him meant he had no option but to plead guilty.

"Although this is not a contact offence, every single image contains a child who is a victim of an appalling crime and when people like Sparks seek these images out, they continue to generate a market for this type of abuse.”

For information about how to keep young people safe online, go to safe.met.police.uk, www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre or www.thinkuknow.co.uk.