A police staff member has been spared jail after being caught with nearly 500 child sex abuse images. Phil Joseph, 28, from Heathfield, East Sussex, was in possession of some 421 indecent images of children upon his arrest in September 2024. Joseph was charged with one count of distributing indecent images of children and three counts of possessing indecent images of children. But the former police staff member was spared jail when he appeared at Hove Trial Centre for sentencing on February 10. Joseph came to the attention of Sussex Police for suspicious online activity, with searches of his devices eventually revealing his cache of images.

Source: Daily Mail March 10, 2026 17:24 UTC