A 19-year-old former soldier from Middlesbrough who committed a nationwide catalogue of online child sexual abuse offences while stationed with the army across England and Scotland has been sentenced to three years and four months in a Young Offender Institution at York Crown Court.
Adam David Bonner, of Middlesbrough, appeared in the dock for sentence on Wednesday 11 November 2026 following a complex investigation by North Yorkshire Police’s Online Child Abuse Team (OCAT) and Digital Forensics unit.
Bonner had previously entered formal guilty pleas in July 2026 to an 11-count indictment encompassing:
Making and distributing indecent images of children in Categories A, B, and C
Engaging and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child
Possessing a prohibited image of a child
Attempting to cause a girl aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity
Attempting to cause a child under 13 to look at an image of sexual activity
Possessing an extreme pornographic image involving an animal
The court heard that Bonner’s offending first came to the attention of North Yorkshire Police’s Online Child Abuse Team in March 2025, when investigators traced a computer suspected of being used to download hundreds of indecent images of children to his previous army barracks in Devon.
Following enquiries to establish the suspect’s identity, OCAT officers arrested Bonner at Catterick Garrison the following month on Wednesday 16 April 2025. Subsequent examination by OCAT detectives and the Digital Forensics team proved a sustained pattern of offending spanning multiple locations across the United Kingdom where Bonner had been stationed with the army, including Dorset, Scotland, and his hometown of Middlesbrough.
Under the provisions of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 and statutory UK child protection legislation, all child victims in this case—including children depicted in indecent material—are protected by mandatory, lifelong statutory anonymity from the moment an allegation is made. Any publication, broadcast, or public dissemination of information capable of leading to their identification is strictly prohibited under UK law.
Sentencing Bonner at York Crown Court on Wednesday 11 November, the presiding judge imposed an immediate custodial term of three years and four months’ detention in a Young Offender Institution. In addition, Bonner was placed on the Sex Offenders Register, formally barred from working with children and vulnerable adults, and made subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
Image – Anonymous Artist Impression
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