Phone store manager jailed after stealing images of children from customers' phones
He's been jailed for seven years for 17 offences
A phone store manager who stole images and videos of children from customers' mobile phones has been jailed for a series of sexual offences.
Steven Drew, 38, has been sentenced to seven years in prison with an additional two years on licence.
At Lincoln Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to:
- The sexual assault of a girl aged under 13.
- Five counts of taking indecent images of children.
- Three counts of making indecent images of children.
- Possession of prohibited images of children.
- Possession of extreme images.
- Two counts of voyeurism.
- Possession of a Paedophile manual.
- Three counts of causing a computer to perform function to secure/enable unauthorised access to a programme or data.
His crimes were uncovered after an investigation into an online user sharing and offering to share indecent images of children.
A warrant was executed at an an address in Lincolnshire on 11th January 2023.
Officers found devices with thousands of Category A-C images, as well as prohibited images of children and extreme images, with some of them dating all the way back to 2007.
Drew was arrested two days later.
Drew used his position at the phone store to steal customers' images and videos of children that they had on their devices when they brought them in.
While on bail, Drew continued taking indecent images, resulting in two more arrests.
He'll remain on the sex offenders' register for life with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
The officer in charge of the investigation, DC Nicola Paradowski, said: “Drew is a dangerous individual who has manipulated and exploited people to obtain images of their children for his sexual gratification. The type of offending Drew has conducted is abhorrent, and it’s evident from this case that Drew has a clear sexual interest in children, and that he would stop at nothing to fulfil his needs.
“I would like to thank the families for their courage and support throughout the investigation, even though this has been a deeply upsetting time for them. Lincolnshire Police take this type of offending extremely seriously and we continue to be relentless in our pursuit to bring people like Drew to justice.”