Disgraced officer avoids prison over child abuse images

Police constable trawled web for vile pictures

A disgraced police officer has avoided jail after viewing sick child abuse images.

Pervert Thomas Blant - who has since been kicked off the force - not only looked at 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.

“You must understand your actions and your appearance in court has put your wife through hell. She is clearly a caring and loving mother.”

Judge Statman added that there would be many in the community who would now hold Blant in “contempt because of the ignominy attached to these crimes”.

The 38-year-old was given a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to attend 40 rehabilitation sessions.

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 near Ashford and has since lived in Southend, having only controlled visitation rights to see his children.

Officers from the National Crime Agency raided his home in January last year and quizzed Blant and his wife after it was revealed the child image site had been accessed from the house.

Prosecutor Tim Probert-wood said Blant’s wife was able to prove she was elsewhere, and the police officer admitted it was him.

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 believes 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 attempted suicide.

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 with 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.

“Combatting this threat remains one of the highest priorities for the NCA. We are committed to targeting the most dangerous offenders and those who, like Blant, go to great lengths to hide their activity, believing they can operate with impunity online.

“As this investigation shows, there is nowhere to hide”

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.

“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.”

‘His actions helped fuel the demand for children to be exploited, which is a complete betrayal of his duty to protect the vulnerable’

Thomas Blant tried to hide his browsing history