A 31-year-old Suffolk man has been sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court after pleading guilty to eight child sexual offences involving illicit online communications and the possession and distribution of extreme child abuse imagery.
Robert Churchyard, residing at Morris Road, Wickham Market, appeared in the dock for sentence on Friday 30 October 2026 having formally entered guilty pleas to an eight-count indictment.
The prosecution arose after Suffolk Constabulary received intelligence in March 2025 indicating that Churchyard was engaged in illicit online communications. Officers arrested Churchyard at his residential address after establishing that he had used Snapchat to send sexually explicit messages and images to an account he believed belonged to a 12-year-old boy. Although the child account did not exist in reality, Churchyard operated under the belief that he was actively communicating with an underage child.
Following his arrest, detectives executed a search of his property and seized several internet-enabled devices for specialized forensic analysis.
Examinations revealed that Churchyard was also utilising the encrypted messaging platform Signal to maintain contact with an actual 14-year-old boy, during which he transmitted indecent photographs and video files. A full digital audit of his seized equipment uncovered an extensive collection of illicit media, comprising:
867 Category A images and videos (the most severe and graphic statutory category)
409 Category B images and videos
356 Category C images and videos
17 prohibited images
At Ipswich Crown Court, Churchyard formally admitted:
Six counts of making and distributing indecent images of children
Two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child
Under the provisions of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992, all child victims and complainants involved in these proceedings are protected by mandatory, lifelong statutory anonymity. Any publication, broadcast, or public dissemination of information capable of leading to their identification is strictly prohibited under UK law.
Sentencing Churchyard, the presiding judge imposed a three-year community order.
The court also made Churchyard subject to a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to strictly regulate his digital device access and internet use, ordered the forfeiture and destruction of all seized electronic hardware, and directed that he comply with statutory notification requirements on the Sex Offenders Register.
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