A former Conservative Party campaign manager from Coventry has pleaded guilty in court to the distribution of indecent images of children. Mr Mark Lerigo who is 49 plead guilty to all of the eight charges he was asked to face at Warwick Crown Court.
The National Crime Agency investigated Mr Lerigo and they claim that he had over 1,000 illegal images on his iPad. 146 of these images were classified as the most serious category A images. The Conservative Party suspended Mr Lerigo after he was charged, and he will be sentenced on the 21s of August.
Mr Lerigo admitted two counts of the distribution of indecent images of children; three counts of making indecent images of children; one count of possessing extreme pornography that involved animals; one count of possessing prohibited images of children as well as one of publishing an obscene article.
Lerigo was arrested in November 2018 and was suspended by the Conservative Party promptly after being charged. The National Crime Agency also said that the iPad also contained 258 images of extreme pornography whilst a laptop seized contained evidence of 414 illegal images, including 59 categories A images. NCA investigators also say that they found a WhatsApp chat with another offender discussing the sexual abuse of children.
Graham Ellis who is the NCA operations manager has aid said: “Offenders who view indecent images are fuelling more and more sexual abuse of children. Every time an abuse image is shared or viewed the child is re-victimised. It doesn’t matter what walk of life an offender is from; we will do everything in our power to catch them”.
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Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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