Sick Sheffield man, 52, caught with 'Paedophile Handbook' had more than 30,000 indecent images of children

Both of the twisted guides owned by Christopher Priestley, of Brandreth Road, Walkley, contained advice on sexually abusing children, including how to select potential victims and the best way to avoid being detected by family, friends and the police. The 52-year-old had produced one himself and downloaded the other, entitled ‘The Paedophile Handbook’. Children’s underwear was also found in Priestley’s bedroom when it was searched.

Priestley appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday, November 30, when he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, namely 30,886 images in categories A-C (A being the most serious), and two counts of possessing a paedophile manual. He is due to be sentenced at the same court on January 11 next year.

Priestley was snared following an investigation by the National Crime Agency, which found he regularly accessed child sexual abuse platforms on the ‘dark web’. He was arrested in October 2019 and officers seized his laptop, desktop and external storage devices. They were all protected with extremely high levels of encryption but NCA investigators were able to decrpyt the devices, on which they found the images and the two manuals.

Laura Scott, from the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said: “Priestley sought out and downloaded an astounding haul of child sexual abuse material. Every horrific image showed the real world abuse of children, each of whom was subjected to unimaginable suffering and then re-victimised each time that image was viewed.”

She added “We know there is a direct link between online offending and contact abuse and in this case, Priestley had handbooks which contained guidance for sexual offenders on how carry out the abuse. Identifying and disrupting individuals who pose a sexual risk to children remains a priority for the NCA.”