A FORMER GP and paediatrician from Taunton caught with one of the largest hauls of child sexual abuse images the National Crime Agency (NCA) has ever seen has been jailed for more than two years.

Although David Shaw, 48, used anonymisation techniques on peer-to-peer sharing network Freenet to download indecent images of children (IIOC), NCA investigators were able to establish his identity.

Shaw was arrested by NCA officers at his former home in Maidstone in February 2019.

His devices were seized and forensic examination showed 16 of them contained 1,278,256 IIOC in categories A-C (A being the most severe).

Shaw trained at Guy’s Hospital Medical School and graduated in 2004. He was registered with the General Medical Council and practised as a GP between 2005 and 2013.

When interviewed, Shaw admitted he had been downloading IIOC since 2005 and had been expecting a visit from law enforcement at some point.

He described himself as a "criminal" and a "bad" person and admitted being sexually attracted to pre-pubescent girls.

He added he became depressed when he tried to cease viewing IIOC and stopped working as a GP at that point.

Shaw was charged with three counts of making and possessing IIOC and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court last October.

He was sentenced there yesterday (Thursday, February 22) to two years and two months in prison.

Sentencing him, Judge Oliver Saxby said that as a specialist in paediatrics, Shaw more than others would have been aware of the harm inflicted on the children in the images he downloaded.

He also handed Shaw a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

NCA senior investigator Tony Smith said: “This is one of the largest collections of child sexual abuse images that the NCA has ever dealt with, the scale of which was shocking.

“Not only did Shaw abuse his position of trust, he helped fuel the sickening trade in child sexual abuse images by downloading this material, which re-victimises every child.

“Tragically, behind these images are vulnerable children being exploited just to satisfy paedophiles.

“The NCA continues to pursue offenders like Shaw, make them accountable for their actions and to protect victims of online child sexual abuse.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of child sexual abuse, report it to your local police on 101. Call 999 in an emergency.

Help and advice for children, parents and carers from the NCA’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection team can be found on www.thinkuknow.co.uk