Two men who assisted the distribution of hundreds of thousands of indecent images of children via the dark web have been jailed today (10 Jul).
David Buckley, 54, and Brett McBain, 51, were sentenced to three years (Buckley) and five years (McBain) in prison at the Central Criminal Court.
McBain, of Balham, London, pleaded guilty to multiple charges relating to the distribution indecent images while Buckley, of Goole, East Yorkshire, admitted a single charge of conspiring to distribute images.
The court heard how McBain posted links to more than 200,000 indecent images on an area of the dark web he created with Buckley, who posted links to more than 30,000 indecent images. The sole purpose of the chat site was to share these images with subscribers.
Punam Chopra, from the CPS, said:
“By facilitating access to thousands of indecent images of children, these men helped to fuel a demand for further abuse on the dark web.
“McBain, helped by Buckley, set up and administrated the website over a two-year period. The CPS built an overwhelming case against both men with the result that both admitted their guilt in the face of the evidence."
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Notes to editors
- Punam Chopra is a Specialist Prosecutor with the CPS International Justice and Organised Crime Division.
- Brett McBain pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute indecent images of children, three counts of making indecent images of children, one count of possessing indecent images of children, three counts of possessing extreme pornography and two counts of possession of prohibited images on 8 March 2017 at the Central Criminal Court.
- David Buckley pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute indecent images of children on 15 May 2017 at the Central Criminal Court.
