A Leeds man has been sentenced to nine and a half years in prison after he was found guilty of a number of child sexual offences. He has also been issued with an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
Richard Turner, 47, of Victoria Road, Hyde Park, Leeds pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to ten counts of child sexual offences including five counts of sexual assault on a child under 13, three charges of possessing indecent images of a child and two charges of taking indecent images of children.
Turner’s crimes were discovered during an investigation by North Yorkshire Police.
Officers carried out a search of Turner’s former home in Catterick Garrison in May 2018 where they discovered over 100,000 child abuse images and the lower half of a child-like sex doll. Following this, Turner was arrested.
At the time of his arrest, Turner was working at a nursery after he left the army in 2012 after serving for 20 years. North Yorkshire Police have confirmed that Turner’s offences were not linked to any of the organisations he worked for.
Turner was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on 12 August.
North Yorkshire Police Detective Inspector Eamonn Clarke, said: “Turner’s sentence reflects the severity of his offences which will impact on his victims for the rest of their lives, both those he has directly abused and those whose pictures he has held in his possession.
“Children’s safety is of the upmost importance and they should be protected at all times from those who want to abuse them. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure children are kept safe and I would urge anyone with concerns to contact the police or one of the many other agencies who can help.”
