Buckingham Palace worker jailed for having more than 15,000 child sex abuse pictures
Some of the victims in his collection of indecent images and videos appeared to be as young as 18 months old
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Your support makes all the difference.A Buckingham Palace tourist worker had more than 15,000 child sex abuse pictures and videos – including some as young as 18 months old.
Tony Aslett, 52, was arrested at the Palace on April 27, 2015, where he worked as a visitor services warden.
His job, since February that year, was to help over 400,000 visitors to the State Rooms, Picture Gallery and Gardens.
He was suspended and then sacked and bosses at the Royal Collection Trust cooperated fully with National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators.
The NCA stressed there was no evidence linking his crimes to his place of work.
The vast stash of images were found on two laptops, three USB storage devices and a computer tower.
Some of the victims in Aslett's collection of 15,116 indecent images and videos appeared to be as young as 18 months old.
After seizing the computer equipment, officers conducted another search and discovered he had bought a white Acer tablet which also contained abuse images.
Analysis showed the indecent images were created between 2009 and 2015 while Aslett’s ex-partner told investigators he spent a lot of evenings alone in his bedroom.
Aslett, of Pagham, Sussex, was charged in December 2015 but the hearing was delayed until this month as he repeatedly argued he was unfit to stand trial because he was too ill.
In interviews, Aslett refused to answer questions.
At Kingston Crown Court on Monday he pleaded guilty to seven counts of making indecent images of children and was jailed for nine months.
Mark McCormack, NCA branch commander, said: “Aslett repeatedly claimed he was too ill to stand trial.
“He owned all the devices that contained the depraved images and had amassed his collection over several years.
“People like Aslett are directly responsible for perpetuating the physical abuse of defenceless children by viewing and copying the images and videos.”
Aslett was also given a sexual harm prevention order and his computer equipment will be destroyed
SWNS
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