A FORMER primary school teacher has been jailed for making indecent images of children.
Andrew Cork, formerly of Jeffrey Close in Wokingham, pleaded guilty to several charges.
They were:
- Two counts of making indecent images
- Four counts of attempting to make indecent images
- One count of attempting to distribute indecent images
- One count of publishing an obscene article
- One count of distributing incident images
Yesterday (Monday, January 29), judges at Oxford Crown Court sentenced him to three years and two months’ imprisonment.
He was ordered to remain on the sex offenders’ register for life and made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
The court heard that between 2012 and 2016 Cork, a former school teacher at Woodley Church of England School in Wokingham and karate instructor, used peer-to-peer sites on the internet to obtain and share child abuse material.
He also published an obscene story on a website.
He was charged in connection with the offences on May 17 last year.
Following the hearing, investigating officer Detective Constable Paul Reece, from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT), said: “Andrew Cork is a determined and committed paedophile who only acknowledged his guilt days before his trial was due to start.
“Thames Valley Police completed a thorough investigation into his online offending leaving him little option but to plead guilty, having consistently refused to accept responsibility throughout.
“Despite there not being any direct physical contact with victims in this case, the sharing of images online facilitates child abuse and results in severe and lasting harm to the child victims.
“Thames Valley Police will continue to work tirelessly to seek out and prosecute anyone who uses the internet to obtain and distribute child abuse material and the length of Cork’s sentence reflects the severity of the offending.”
