An intelligence officer has been jailed for using the dark web to view hundreds of indecent images of children on his work computer.

Adam Taylor, from Waltham Abbey in Essex, admitted two counts of misconduct in a public office, three counts of making indecent photographs of children and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image in June.

The former National Crime Agency (NCA) officer has now been jailed for 18 months.

He has also been given a sexual harm prevention order and was made to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

While handing down the sentence at Southwark Crown Court today, Judge Justin Cole told Taylor, aged 40, “because of people like you there’s a market for this”.

His interest in “vile” indecent images has led to the “rape and torture of innocent children”, the judge added.

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Taylor was a grade five intelligence officer who had access to the dark web but his work did not require him to view images such as those found on his computer, the court head.

He was arrested by the NCA’s own anti-corruption unit after an IP address linked to his home was found to be accessing illegal content.

During a search of his house, multiple devices – including laptops, tablets, USBs and hard drives – were discovered, the NCA said.

They contained more than 700 indecent images of children – including 221 category A images, the highest level of seriousness – and another 200 images of extreme pornography or bestiality.

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Prosecutor Amy Nicholson said Taylor “sought to use his employment to gain further access to child sexual abuse material” in “deliberate intentional acts” that caused a “high level” of harm.

She continued: “The defendant’s conduct will have undermined public trust and confidence in the NCA and its investigation of this sort of offending.

“Furthermore, the viewing and downloading of indecent photographs of children perpetuates the production of further indecent photographs, which requires the serious sexual abuse of young children.”

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