Suffolk child porn boss jailed
18 June 2007
SELF-styled Son of God Timothy Cox has today been jailed indefinitely for running an international child-porn sex ring from his Suffolk home.
Cox, 28, was identified by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre as the host of the 'Kids the Light of Our Lives' internet chatroom, dedicated to the sexual exploitation of children.
After ten months of complex investigative work involving law enforcement authorities across 33 countries as part of Operation Chandler it emerged that Cox had been running the site masquerading as 'Son of God', his online identity, from his home in Brettenham Road, Buxhall, near Stowmarket.
The pervert, who also used the screen name 'I_do_it' was appeared at Ipswich Crown Court to learn his fate today and was told he would be jailed indefinitely and for no less than 19 months.
The chat room that Timothy Cox ran
To date the international operation has led to 31 children being rescued from abuse or positions of harm and so far intelligence indicates that there were more than 700 users of the paedophile site worldwide, 200 of them in the UK.
Robert Sadd, senior crown prosecutor and CPS Hi Tech Crime Specialist, said: “The mass distribution of indecent photographs of children is an immensely disturbing crime.
“Timothy Cox was distributing on average in excess of 200 images a day through the internet and is considered a danger to the public.
“The scale of his operation was truly astonishing as well as having nearly 75,000 still indecent images of children he had 1,100 videos which if played one after the other would have taken 316 hours, or to put it another way, just under two weeks.”
Cox, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of possessing indecent photographs of children for show, two counts of distributing indecent photographs of children and a count of possessing indecent photographs of children, was arrested on 28 September after the CEOP centre contacted Suffolk police.
Officers from the Suffolk Constabulary's Hi-Tech Crime Unit forensically examined Cox's computer, seized from his home address, and found 75,960 indecent and explicit images of children in addition to evidence that he had supplied 11,491 images to other users of the chat room.
Over a three-month period officers from the Suffolk Constabulary Online Investigation Team viewed and categorised all 75,960 child abuse images found on Cox's computer.
Jim Gamble, CEO at the CEOP centre and Chairman of the Virtual Global Taskforce, fights child abuse throughout the world, said: “From the apparent 'safety' of his home, Cox spent hours each day planning, promoting and encouraging the abuse and exploitation of innocent young victims.
“In doing so he provided a service to hundreds of like-minded individuals, enabling those with a sexual interest in children to share indecent images and discuss further plans for abuse.
“Any individual who thinks they carry out such horrific activities undetected is in for a very rude awakening.
“The belief that the internet provides anonymity is unfounded and for Cox it has already proved to be a costly misconception.
“As predators become increasingly sophisticated in their use of the internet for exploiting young people, so too do the techniques we use to detect them. We will continue to work alongside local police forces and our law enforcement partners worldwide, to track and prosecute those who prey on young victims and to protect greater numbers of children from harm.”
http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/news/story.aspx?brand=ESTOnline&category=News&tBrand=ESTOnline&tCategory=News&itemid=IPED18%20Jun%202007%2015%3A25%3A09%3A417.
A blog critique of this story:
" ... jailed indefinitely and for no less than 19 months" What an insult.....he should be jailed for at least 20 years. Another wishy-washy sentence."
Neil, Felixstowe
