Luxembourg helps catch UK web child porn offender

In the second case of its kind this year, Luxembourg has played a key role in catching an internet child pornography offender in another country.

Software engineer Dominic Gifford, located in Cambridge, in the UK, pleaded guilty to stocking indecent photos of young children.

The UK has a ranking system for levels of indecency in relation to child pornography and 1,418 photos were rated at level one, the least serious ranking, plus a single level two picture was found. Gifford also admitted to making four videos at level four.

Cambridge Magistrates’ Court was told that the 33-year-old was traced to his home after a police operation, which started in Luxembourg.

Paul Brown, prosecuting, said: “Police in Luxembourg were monitoring an internet forum in which users viewed and shared images. They were able to trace the IP addresses of people who viewed one or more of the images and this was how they found Mr Gifford.”

Following the tip off from Luxembourg, police in the UK raided the offender's home and seized computers containing photos and videos of girls aged 11 to 15.

Gifford was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years, as well as 24 months of supervision and rehabilitation as a sex offender. He will also be banned from using the internet and having contact with anyone under the age of 16.

This is the second case this year whereby Luxembourg authorities have alerted UK authorities of child pornography offenders. In May this year a primary school teacher in the UK was jailed for similar offences thanks to an alert raised by a Luxembourg-based internet company when it discovered the indecent photos stocked on its server.