Officer avoids jail for child sex abuse images

A former police licensing officer has avoided being sent to jail after he pleaded guilty to possessing more than 600 child sex abuse images in a "total betrayal of his duty to protect the public".

Phil Joseph, who was a civilian member of staff for Sussex Police, admitted one count of distributing indecent images of children and three counts of possessing indecent images of children.

The 28-year-old, who was based in East Sussex, was sentenced at Hove Trial Centre to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community service and 20 days of rehabilitation.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "He was arrested in September 2024, after coming to the attention of police for suspicious online activity.

"Searches of his digital devices found 421 child sex abuse images, including 247 of the most serious, category A.

"At the time of the allegations, Joseph was a civilian member of police staff, working as a licensing officer based in East Sussex.

"He was suspended from duty and has since resigned from the force."

Det Ch Insp Luke Kyriakides-Yeldham said: "Phil Joseph's offending makes him complicit in the sexual abuse of children, in a total betrayal of his duty to protect the public as a former member of police staff.

"Online child sexual offending is an issue growing in scale and complexity and we are committed to bringing offenders to justice while safeguarding young people."

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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