An intelligence officer at the National Crime Agency who viewed hundredsof indecent images of children on his work computer has been jailed for 18months.
Adam Taylor, 40, had access to the Dark Web in his crime-fighting role tackling drugs and firearms offences, but abused it to view illegal images involving the sexual abuse of children.
The grade 5 intelligence officer, who never moved out of the family home, was arrested by the NCA’s anti-corruption unit when illegal content was accessed from an IP address linked to his home.
At Southwark crown court on Friday, Taylor, from Waltham Abbey, Essex, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after admitting two counts of misconduct in a public office, three counts of making indecent photographs of children and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image.
Judge Justin Cole condemned Taylor for a “gross abuse of trust”, and said hisactions fuel the creation of online sexual abuse of children.
“Because of people like you, there’s a market for this,” he said, adding that “vile” indecent images comes from the “rape and torture of innocent children”.
Taylor admitted using his work computer to make the indecent images of children between March 2019 and April 2022.
He had 221 category A images – the highest category of seriousness – as well as 203 extreme pornographic images and hundreds of category B and C images on both work and home electronic devices between May 2012 and the time of his arrest.
Prosecutor Amy Nicholson said Taylor “sought to use his employment to gain further access to child sexual abuse material” in “deliberate intentional acts” that caused a “high level” of harm.
She went on: “The defendant’s conduct will have undermined public trust and confidence in the NCA and its investigation of this sort of offending.
“Furthermore, the viewing and downloading of indecent photographs of children perpetuates the production of further indecent photographs, which requires the serious sexual abuse of young children.”
Eddison Flint, mitigating for Taylor, pleaded for a suspended prison sentence, saying he is a low risk of reoffending and is “not a man who needs to add to the prison population”.
As part of the sentencing, Taylor was placed under a sexual harm prevention order and will be on the sex offenders register for the next 10 years.
Catrin Attwell, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “Adam Taylor intentionally used his employment to obtain information to facilitate the viewing and downloading of indecent images of children and used NCA official devices for this purpose.
“The indecent images of children on the devices contained some of the most horrific sexual abuse of children.
“His actions were a gross breach of the trust placed in him as an officer and severely undermined the integrity and standards expected from those in his position.
“After collaborative work from the CPS and the NCA, Taylor was left with no option but to plead guilty and face the consequences of his actions.”
NCA director general Rob Jones said: “The NCA is committed to protecting children from sexual abuse, wherever in the world it is happening.
“We are determined to ensure there is no safe haven for perpetrators, including and especially within law enforcement.
“NCA officers from our anti-corruption unit carried out a meticulous, covert investigation which identified Taylor’s offending and ultimately brought him to justice.
“The NCA will work tirelessly to tackle corruption and breaches of our standards of professional behaviour, without fear or favour, wherever they occur.
“We welcome this custodial sentence which recognises the gravity of Taylor’s crimes.”
