A FORMER school cook who had more than 17,000 indecent images of children on his computer has been jailed for 12 months.

Sam Dunn, 24, of Gote Lane, Gorefield, near Wisbech, admitted three counts of distributing indecent images, four counts of making indecent images and eight counts of possessing indecent images of children at Norfolk Magistrates’ Court last month.

Police carried out a warrant at Dunn’s home on October 9 last year after his internet provider (IP) address was linked to an account and a file sharing site which was sharing and distributing indecent images of children.

On a computer seized from Dunn’s home, officers discovered he had distributed 630 indecent images of children, made 8,707 and possessed a further 8,411.

They comprised of: 77 images at level five (the most severe legal classification) as well as 2,100 at level four, 959 at level three, 1,017 at level two and 13,593 at level one.

In police interview, Dunn admitted being a GigaTribe member and he had used the site for looking, downloading and sharing the images.

Today (Friday) at Cambridge Crown Court, Dunn was sentenced to a year in prison, he was also made subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for five years and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for seven years.

Det Con Gareth Purdy said: “Dunn was a member of the community who was entrusted to babysit children, he was a tennis coach and employed as a cook at a local secondary school. His life was centred around working with children and there is no excuse for this kind of behaviour.

“While none of the children he worked with were involved, downloading images of this nature is not a victimless crime as it fuels the abuse of children worldwide. This case demonstrates those who access such images can be traced and can expect police to knock on their door.”