A headteacher has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after making and publishing child abuse images.
Daniel Chapman, 31, portrayed himself as the “safeguarding champion” of a school while secretly gratifying himself with the cruel sexual exploitation of children as young as 4, Essex Police said.
Chapman was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday after admitting 12 offences including making indecent photographs of children, publishing obscene articles, and possessing extreme pornographic images, the force added.
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Detective Constable Nick Riley said the six-month police investigation “involved some of the most horrific social media messaging concerning child abuse that I had ever investigated”.
‘Horrifying’ child abuse images
He said: “Daniel Chapman had taken it upon himself to become a safeguarding champion for the school, whilst he was simultaneously involved in activities which promoted the abuse of children, some of whom were of a similar age to those he was meant to be safeguarding.
“He portrayed himself as a respectable headteacher. However, he was found to have been using messaging applications and social media to engage in making, possessing and publishing indecent images of children as young as 4.
“I am delighted this individual is now paying the price for his
appalling actions.
“Every time an indecent image of a child is viewed, it re-victimises that child over and over again.”
Chapman, of Meadgate Avenue, Chelmsford, was also put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years, given a decade-long sexual harm prevention order, and banned from teaching for life.