Huntingdon paedophile jailed after indecent images found on monitored devices
John Ashcroft, 32, was sentenced to over a year in prison after monitoring software flagged illegal content on his devices, breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
Huntingdon man returned to custody after surveillance software exposes child images
Google News UK — Crime (en) reports that a convicted paedophile from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, has been returned to prison after monitoring software detected indecent images of children on his devices.
John Ashcroft, 32, of Judson Court, Huntingdon, was subject to a sexual harm prevention order running until 2032, imposed following an earlier conviction for making indecent images of children. As part of that order, police installed surveillance software on his devices to flag any attempt to access illegal material.
On 15 March 2025, the software alerted officers to suspicious activity linked to Ashcroft's account. Police seized his computer and mobile phone for forensic examination and found indecent images of children on both.
Ashcroft pleaded guilty to breaching his sex offender requirements and three counts of making indecent images of children. On 1 October 2025, Peterborough Crown Court sentenced him to one year and one month in prison.
Detective Constable Kerry Howard, from the force's Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders team (MOSOVO), said: "Officers from MOSOVO will always check on convicted sex offenders in the county to make sure they are adhering to their conditions and court orders. In this case, pre-installed software helped us uncover further offences and bring Ashcroft to justice."
Source: Google News UK — Crime (en)