Kentish Express Ashford & District
Disgraced PC avoids jail over child abuse images
A disgraced police officer from Wye has avoided jail after viewing sick child abuse images.
Pervert Thomas Blant - who has since been kicked off the force - not only viewed the pictures but then used software to “disguise and hide” sites he had been trawling on the dark web.
Now, the father-of-two, who was a Kent Police constable based in Canterbury for six years, has admitted two charges of downloading illegal images of children.
At a sentencing hearing last week, Judge Philip Statman told him: “You thought you would never be caught because of the protection you had installed on your computer. You have a predilection for young girls.”
He added that there would be many in the community who would now hold him in “contempt because of the ignominy attached to these crimes”.
Blant, 38, was given a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to attend 40 sessions to deal with his rehabilitation.
He was also given a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and told to sign the Sex Offender’s Register for 10 years.
After his arrest, Blant moved out of the family home in Wye and has since lived in Southend.
Officers from the National Crime Agency raided his home in January last year and quizzed Blant after it was revealed the child image site had been accessed from the house.
The judge heard how Blant had installed on his computer and mobile phone software which immediately deleted much of the evidence of the sites he was viewing.
Judge Statman said he was concerned about the 22-month delay in bringing the case to court, which the Crown Prosecution Service believe was caused by difficulties in identifying and categorising images of children aged between 10 and 12.
Mr Probert-Wood said Blant had installed “highly sophisticated” software designed to prevent people from knowing which sites had been accessed and which images had been downloaded, and a web cleaner which covered his tracks.
But a forensic examination later revealed he had accessed 17 category A and C images, and 19 images regarded as borderline.
Kerry Waitt, defending, said after Blant’s arrest he was thrown out of the force and later made an attempt to take his own life.
He added that none of the downloading was done while he was on duty and he had not used any of his police equipment to carry out his disgusting behaviour.
Blant has since undertaken courses from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation to tackle his perversions.
After the sentencing, Martin Ludlow from the National Crime Agency said: “Blant’s offending is an outrageous misuse of trust.
“His role as a police officer was to protect the public. Instead, he sought out images of child abuse for his own sexual gratification. Offenders who view such material online only encourage those willing to sexually abuse children in the real world.”
Kent Police’s head of professional standards, Det Ch Supt Jon Armory, added: “It is abhorrent that Blant has committed these offences, particularly while working as a police officer.
“His actions helped fuel the demand for children to be exploited which is a complete betrayal of his duty to protect the vulnerable.
“Blant was suspended from our force as soon as the allegations were first received and we fully supported our colleagues in the National Crime Agency with their investigation. As soon as he admitted the offences in court, we progressed with special case proceedings which led to his dismissal on 17 August.
“The vast majority of our officers and staff do an outstanding job serving the public in line with the highest standards of professionalism and conduct, and we expect no less from them.
“Those who fall short will face scrutiny.”