An East London man has been jailed for making and distributing indecent images of children. In March 2023, specialist Metropolitan Police officers received information about Arif Azad, now 21, of Newham, who had also downloaded a ‘paedophile manual’.
They then established that he had accessed nearly 6,000 indecent images of children online – 3,500 of which were identified as being in the most extreme category. Officers found that a number of the images in Azad’s possession had been sent to him by an unknown child whom he had been talking to online.
On the day before his arrest, he had downloaded a manual which gave advice on how to commit sexual offences against children as young as two months old. Evidence retrieved from Azad’s electronic devices also proved that he had communications online with children on multiple occasions.
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Officers from the Met’s North East Online Child Sexual Abuse Exploitation Team led the investigation. On April 19, 2024, Azad was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court to four years’ imprisonment.
This was two years for the making, distribution and possession of indecent images, and another two years for engaging in sexual communication with a child and possession of the paedophile manual. Azad pleaded guilty at the same court on October 25, 2023.
He will be subject to Sex Offender Notification Requirements for life and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years.
PC Ella Rose, one of the Met’s Safeguarding officers, said: “Although there was no evidence that Azad had met with a child while committing these offences, he is undoubtedly a paedophile whose behaviour was becoming increasingly concerning. He was brought to justice thanks to the dedication of officers from the Online Child Sexual Abuse Exploitation Team.
“Their investigation was complex and difficult, and there will have been a personal cost for the officers involved in gathering such a large volume of disturbing evidence in order to ensure that Azad was made to answer for his crimes.”
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