Paedophile Caught Twice In A Week

Cambridge man Thomas Turney, 40, began communicating online with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl on 25 March last year.

He asked the ‘girl’, who was in fact an adult member of an online activist group, to send him explicit pictures of herself.

A week later, on 1 April, he used a different online platform to begin communicating with another ‘girl’ who stated she was 12 years old. He again asked for indecent images, not realising the girl was in fact another adult from a separate activist group.   

Both groups submitted evidence to police and Turney was arrested at his home in Langdale Close, Cambridge.

When officers searched his home they found a mobile phone he had not told police about. Having this device, which could access the internet, represented a breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Two indecent images of children were found on the phone, one of which was classed as category A – the most severe. The examination also provided evidence he had used multiple social media platforms, representing further breaches.

Turney initially denied the offences and stated someone else must have been responsible and used his details.

However, he later went on to admit two counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child, making an indecent photo of a child and five breaches of a SHPO.

At Cambridge Crown Court, Turney was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for two years and ordered to complete 45 days rehabilitation activity.

DC Decca Riondino said: “Turney’s behaviour was both disgraceful and persistent. He was clearly determined to have sexualised conversations with young girls and obtain indecent content from them.

“He was fully aware of his requirements under the SHPO, but blatantly ignored them and tried to conceal the mobile phone from officers.”