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Ex-school governor who imported child sex doll is jailed
UK
8 September 2017
David Turner arriving at Canterbury Crown CourtImage copyrightPA
Image caption
David Turner owned a number of child sex dolls, and possessed images of
child sexual abuse
A former school governor and church warden who imported a child sex doll
has been jailed for 16 months.
David Turner, 72, admitted importing the child-size item and possessing
34,000 images of child sexual abuse.
An investigation began when the UK Border Force intercepted a package in November, imported from China.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) then discovered that Turner, of
Ramsgate, Kent, had two other child sex dolls, and indecent images of
children.
Legal first
Turner was sentenced by Judge Simon James at Canterbury Crown Court for possessing a doll that was 3ft 10in (1.16m) tall, which he had also
bought clothes for.
He was sentenced to eight months for owning the doll and eight months
for possessing images of child sexual abuse.
He was officially convicted of one charge of importing a child sex doll,
three charges of possession of indecent images of a child, three charges
of making indecent images, and a charge of possessing extreme
pornographic images.
Child sex doll imported by David TurnerImage copyrightNATIONAL CRIME AGENCY Image caption
David Turner dressed the black haired doll himself
In July, a court ruled the child sex doll was an obscene item, after
Turner's lawyers had argued it was not covered by a law banning their importation.
Other men have been convicted for importing child sex dolls, but this
was the first case where the question of whether a doll is indecent or
obscene had been tested by the courts.
'Jail sentence inevitable'
Analysis: Danny Shaw, home affairs correspondent
What a terrible fall from grace for David Turner who until his arrest
last November was a much-respected member of the Ramsgate community.
Even though he had no previous convictions a jail sentence was
inevitable given the number of abuse images he'd amassed, including 138
of the most serious kind, and the need to send out a message to other
people contemplating ordering child sex dolls.
Investigators believe it's a growing problem facilitated by the internet.
This week, Simon Bailey, the chief constable who leads on child
protection for the National Police Chiefs' Council, said it wouldn't be
long before there were virtual reality videos of child sexual abuse -
and robots engineered for the task.
"Trust me, it will happen," he said.
In a police interview, Turner said he preferred viewing indecent images
of girls aged between four and 10 and added he had secretly taken
pictures of minors in public. Children in the images were as young as three.
He was placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
Officers also found that he had 29 fictional stories which described the
rape of children, but the accounts fell outside the Obscene Publications
Act.
The NCA's Hazel Stewart said: "Importing child dolls to have sex with -
as David Turner did - is a crucial flag to potential offending against children.
"In this case it enabled us to uncover Turner's long-standing sexual
interest in children. He should not be near them and I am delighted that
our investigation has seen him convicted and jailed."
'Swift action'
Turner is one of seven people in the UK to have been convicted for
possessing the obscene dolls to-date.
The Border Force has seized 123 dolls from 120 individuals since March 2016. They were convicted using a 19th Century law, called the Customs
Consolidation Act of 1876.
The Crown Prosecution Service's Donna East said: "Given the nature of
the offence, which is very much modern day, with people ordering these
sex dolls online, it is perhaps surprising that we are using laws dating
back to the end of the 19th century, but this demonstrates how the law
can apply to many circumstances."
Child sex dollsImage copyrightPA
Image caption
Child sex dolls are considered a relatively new phenomenon, which have
seen only a handful of convictions
The NSPCC has complained that the dolls offer a "legal loophole" to
potential child sex abusers, and has called for them to be criminalised
in the same way as indecent images.
The charity's chief executive Peter Wanless said: "At present in England
and Wales it is only illegal to import an obscene or indecent item. It
is not a crime to make these dolls, to distribute them or to possess them. "This is baffling and needs to be changed so that the law in relation to
child sex dolls is brought in line with the law on prohibited images.
"I urge [the home secretary] to take swift action and remedy this issue
at the earliest available opportunity."
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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41203239
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