Ritchie Plumb was sentenced on Friday 14th September at Swindon Crown Court after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children.

Between February 16, 2014 and December 12, 2017, he made four images in category A, the worst bracket, 14 in category B, and 1,963 in category C.

Plumb also had 11 prohibited images of children, which usually refer to cartoons or drawings, on December 12.

He was sentenced to a mere 200 hours community service and escaped a custodial sentence which possession on a Category A image usually receives.  This works out at approx 6 minutes of community service per image. 

The paedophile had admitted to the police that he used these images for sexual gratification; they had been downloaded, organised, bookmarked and marked as favourites for easy access.

A charge for the possession of a child sized sex doll was dropped due to it being decided it looked more like an adult but it is clear to the prosecution what his motivations were.

Plumb’s images were of girls age 5-11.  No mention was made to the fact that Plumb had been volunteering in a local Primary School's reception class and also at the local Brownie Group in his village.  From online pictures to buying a child sized sex doll, then actively seeking out the company of children this progression of behaviour is very worrying.

We believe that this ridiculously lenient sentence sends the wrong message to paedophiles, that their behaviour is victimless and not serious enough to warrant a custodial sentence. 

We request that the Attorney General review his sentence and make it more appropriate to the possession of the most serious Category A images.