Lancashire man jailed following investigation by Internet Child Exploitation team
The man was sentenced to 21 months in prison
A 24-year-old man has been jailed after an investigation by Lancashire Police's Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team.
Officers paid a routine visit to David Hawkyard, a registered sex offender, in July 2025 but when they went in, he was acting suspiciously and delaying handing over his mobile devices.
He was arrested on suspicion of breaching his sexual harm prevention order and when detectives from the ICE team examined his devices, indecent Images of children were identified. Detectives secured three charges of making indecent images of children, and one charge of a breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order against Hawkyard, and he was remanded into custody.
Hawkyard of Lady Acre, Bamber Bridge, admitted the charges and was sentenced at Preston Crown Court this week to 21 months in prison. He was also given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) which will allow police to closely monitor his activities online following his release.
Detective Constable Pippa Jackson said: “We believe Hawkyard poses a significant risk if his behaviour continued to escalate and we welcome this sentence.”
The purpose of the ICE teams is to investigate offenders committing online child exploitation offences within Lancashire to safeguard vulnerable children. We act on information where indecent images of children have been uploaded to the internet. A child is exploited every time their image is shared. By taking positive action, we aim to identify offenders, gather digital evidence of their activities, and put them before the court. We aim to prevent escalation in their offending and prevent future contact offences against children.
Online child abuse is a crime that affects all our communities and has a significant impact on children that are exposed to it. We are determined to do all we can to prevent it and continue to investigate offences where children are targeted and exploited online.