Whitby man sentenced for indecent images of children

Mark Anthony Boyce, 56, was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, at York Crown Court today (April 23) after previously pleading guilty to a series of indecent images of children (IIOC) offences.

These included making 11,145 of the most serious Category A images, 12,177 Category B images and 121,047 Category C images.

He also admitted distributing two Category C images, possessing 150 prohibited images of a child and possessing 114 extreme pornographic images.

Boyce, who has been remanded in custody for six months following his arrest and charge to his appearance at court for the sentencing, also has to complete a course of rehabilitation and has been placed on the sex offenders’ register.

North Yorkshire Police were tipped off in early 2019 that IIOC had been shared online from an address in Whitby.

Searches were conducted at Boyce's home and work addresses, as well as in the vehicles he used, resulted in the seizure of a laptop, mobile phone and tablet devices which were subjected to in depth analysis by the force’s Digital Forensics Unit.

Boyce was charged with the offences and was remanded in custody ahead of appearing at court.

Enquiries were also conducted into Boyce’s involvement with a local swimming club where he was the chairman and a coach - no related offences came to light during the investigation.

Police say the investigation took an even more sinister turn regarding two videos in Boyce’s sickening collection which appeared to show a man raping a girl aged between 10 and 12.

Working with US law enforcement agencies and the Queensland Police Service in Australia who were also running an investigation, DC Gascoyne and the team were able to help identify both the victim and the suspect.

Jesse Anthony Garcia, aged 29, from Goodyear, Arizona, was arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor on March 22.

He was held in custody on a $1 million bond and will appear before the court again in due course.

The child victim has been safeguarded from further alleged abuse.

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