Man sentenced over 'sadistic' child abuse images

A man has been sentenced for downloading and sharing what police described as some of the "most sadistic and degrading" child abuse images they had encountered.

Wiltshire police said more than a thousand images and videos collected between November 2021 and February 2025 were found on Matthew Ely's phone.

The 39-year-old, from the Rodbourne area, was sentenced to 28 months, suspended for 30 months, at Swindon Crown Court on 21 May after pleading guilty in April.

The charges included three counts of making indecent images or pseudo-images of children, one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child, and two counts of sharing indecent images.

Beccy Scott, from Wiltshire Police's Child Internet Exploitation Team, said the investigation had been "extremely challenging".

"In my four years in this team, they were the most sadistic and degrading [images] I have encountered," she said.

Police said there was no evidence that any of the illegal images were physically taken by Ely himself.

Scott added: "Online child abuse material is not a victimless crime. Real children all over the world are being harmed."

Ely was also ordered to complete up to 35 days of rehabilitation activity, carry out 175 hours of unpaid work and pay £156 in costs.

He was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years and will remain on the Sexual Offenders Register for a decade.

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