Man jailed for sharing indecent images globally

A man who police said created thousands of indecent images of children over a 15-year period and shared some on group chats with members across the world has been jailed.

Derbyshire Police said Andrew Moseley, 60, first became a person of interest following a referral from the National Crime Agency (NCA) as he had been communicating with a 14-year-old boy who had uploaded explicit images of himself to the internet.

When he was arrested in July 2023, after examining his devices, the force said they found he had been participating in 36 group chats involving the sexual abuse of children.

On Friday at Derby Crown Court, Moseley, of Peterborough, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Moseley, formerly of Church Gresley, Derbyshire was also handed a lifetime sexual harm prevention order, placed on the sex offenders' register and given a deprivation of rights order concerning the devices that were seized from him.

Police said the chats on the devices discussed the sharing of indecent images and videos of children.

According to the force, the 36 WhatsApp group chats had a total of 24,042 members from 141 countries across the world.

Moseley pleaded guilty to multiple offences including making indecent photographs of children, distributing an indecent photograph of a child and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Police added some of the material on Moseley's devices dated back to 2009, showing that he had been involved in discussing and inciting the sexual abuse of children and making and sharing images of abuse for 15 years.

Det Con Heather Rogers said the case was "extremely complex" and the magnitude of Moseley's offending was "horrifying".

"While this sentence cannot undo the lasting harm that has been caused to the many child victims in this case, it does mean a massive disruption in the sharing of child sexual abuse material across Moseley's worldwide network.

"The prevention of further such material being shared and Moseley being put safely behind bars, makes our online spaces that little bit safer," she added.

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