Ashford police officer sentenced over child sex abuse images

A police officer who admitted viewing child abuse images online has been handed a suspended sentence.

Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) found 21 indecent images on Thomas Blant's laptop and phone when they raided his house in Ashford, Kent.

The 38-year-old was a serving officer with Kent Police when he committed the offences in January 2020.

He was sentenced to 12 months prison, suspended for two years, and put on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Blant was arrested after the NCA detected a website hosting "child sexual abuse material" had been accessed from his house.

He had tried to delete 17 images from his laptop. NCA officers also found a further four indecent images of children on one of his old mobile phones.

He was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday, after previously pleading guilty to two charges of making illegal images of children.

Det Ch Supt Jon Armory, Kent Police's head of professional standards, said: "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 has been dismissed from the police force.

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