Le Tocq jailed for nine years over child images

Former Guernsey Chief Minister Jonathan Le Tocq has been sentenced to nine years in prison after he admitted creating more than 2,000 indecent images of children.

The 61-year-old admitted possessing extreme pornography, creating pseudo indecent images of children and various telecommunications offences in December 2025.

Le Tocq resigned as a deputy last month after finishing ninth in June's general election, receiving 8,002 votes.

Sentencing Le Tocq at Guernsey's Royal Court, Judge Catherine Fooks said she had struggled to put into words "the depravity" of his crimes.

During the hearing, the former deputy looked to his right and down at a stack of papers on the chair in the dock of court one, wiping a tear from his eye when he heard a statement from one of his victims.

Speaking for the prosecution, crown advocate Chris Dunford described the method the pseudo indecent images of children had been created had "never been seen before by this court".

He said deepfakes of adult females who were naked were not currently illegal, although the States was looking to change that.

"It was the sending of these images which was illegal and they make up the various telecoms offences," said Dunford.

The images were often of local women who Le Tocq knew, superimposed on to naked or semi-naked bodies in various sexual poses, he said.

Dunford said Le Tocq used artificial intelligence to put children's faces on naked photos and would often add his own face to the sexualised images.

The court was told he had 29 different social media accounts, although police only focussed on four as part of the prosecution.

Dunford told the court many of the victims had connections to Guernsey.

A victim, described as Miss A, said she was "still in shock" to find out photos of her had been used in a sexualised way by Le Tocq.

In a victim impact statement, she said her mental health had suffered and she had developed anxiety.

Another victim, known to the court as Miss B, said she had not only suffered problems with her mental health but her physical health had also been impacted.

She said she felt a "paranoia that everyone knew" her photos had been used which left her reluctant to go outside.

A number of other victim impact statements were also read to the court.

Dunford described how Le Tocq, in his first police interview, explained to officers how he learned to make deepfake images.

He told them "an acquaintance" in Brussels, Belgium, had introduced him to how he could create the images.

In his police interview, Le Tocq said he did it for the "release" and to provide an "adrenaline high" which would help him with the stress of his jobs as a people's deputy.

Dunford said Le Tocq had told officers he was "desperately sorry and "ashamed" of his "bizarre behaviour".

In a letter written to the court from prison, Le Tocq said as a believer in Jesus Christ he had "grieved his god" through his actions.

He wrote he carried "profound remorse" and regretted not responding appropriately when there were "warning signs" in 2020 when he had a heart attack.

Defence advocate Claire Tee told the court Le Tocq accepted responsibility for all 15 counts he faced.

"He accepts what he did was debauched and sordid, that the extreme pornography he possessed was reprehensible," she said.

Tee said Le Tocq accepted he had undermined the public trust in the church and the States of Guernsey.

He received five character references, including one from an unnamed Jersey politician and a retired dentist.

Guernsey Police received information about Le Tocq's offending after Thames Valley Police seized the phone of a registered sex offender on 7 November 2024.

On that phone they identified a conversation between Le Tocq and the registered sex offender on the social media platform X.

The conversation was closed by X before Guernsey Police could get access to the contents, according to Dunford.

But the court was told Le Tocq had been posing in the conversation as one of the victims, known as Miss C.

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