ONLINE CRIME-1

ONLINE PEDOPHILE MULTINATIONAL BUSTED

* A gang of pedophiles used such a large internet server to store millions of indecent images that when it was switched on by detectives the lights in the building dimmed.

* Officers in Lincolnshire who helped to jail the gang had to sift through more than five million indecent images of children in a four-year operation.
* The images and movies were so "horrific", those working on the case, which spanned 45 countries, were regularly offered support from psychologists.
* On Monday, two men from Lincolnshire, one from Sheffield and one from St Albans were jailed at Nottingham Crown Court.They ran a web-based, subscription news service, which was a front for an online library of indecent images of children, distributed around the world.

Clockwise from top left: George Frost, Ian Frost, Ian Sambridge and Paul Rowland were convicted for their roles in distributing child abuse images
 

* They ran a web-based, subscription news service, which was a front for an online library of indecent images of children, distributed around the world.
* Paul Rowland, 35, and Ian Frost, 35, both of Martins Dale in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, were each jailed for 33 months for distributing, making and possessing indecent images of children.
Paul Frost, 37, from Sheffield was jailed for 15 months for distributing indecent images of children.
Rural empire Ian Sambridge, 32, of St Albans was sentenced to 12 months, suspended for two years, also for distributing indecent images of children. He was also ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work.
* Based in the hamlet of Martins Dale in rural Lincolnshire, Ian Frost and Paul Rowland ran a number of web-based services, including Athenanews.com which charged subscribers to access news groups or discussion forums.

Police found a computer server in Ian Frost's home

  * Officers looked at 5 million images and read through one-and-a-half million emails.

* They found out they had been running a news service for 7 years and had been using it to distribute indecent images to 45 countries, earning themselves about £2m," said Det Supt Gibson.
"You would have to be very technically proficient to get these news services up and running and Ian Frost was certainly very versed in the IT world," said Det Supt Gibson.
"It couldn't be done by the average individual, you need a really detailed knowledge."
* So far, 55 offenders have been dealt with for the possession of indecent images of children, said Lincolnshire Police.
Other cases are being investigated or are going through the courts.