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Smuggler of Indecent Child Images sentenced

A Hertfordshire man has been sentenced to 2 years and 8 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to 37 charges of possessing and importing indecent images of children. It follows a joint investigation by our officers and Hertfordshire Constabulary.

Graham Benjamin Phillips, of Railway Terrace, Kings Langley, had been stopped by our officers at Dover’s Eastern Docks on 26 June 2011. When questioned he said he was an accountant and had been to Lille for 4 days to get away from the stresses of work.

Officers searched the vehicle he was driving and found a laptop, 2 mobile phones and memory sticks and cards. When asked to unlock the laptop to allow officers to check the material stored on it, Phillips refused saying it contained confidential work material.

The laptop, phones and memory sticks and cards were detained pending further investigation by us. The laptop was found to contain a large number of indecent images of children up to the level 5 on the COPINE scale.

On September 8, 2011, our officers and Hertfordshire Constabulary carried out an arrest enquiry at an address in Kings Langley. Phillips was not at the address and was subsequently listed as wanted by Hertfordshire Constabulary and an appeal to trace him placed on Crimewatch.

Officers in Hertfordshire received information on his whereabouts and arrested Graham Phillips at a football match in the county on 5 November.

Following his arrest, Hertfordshire Constabulary identified other possible offences and investigated these. He was subsequently charged with 37 offences in total.

UKBA Press Release