Repeat sex offender from Northampton sent to prison after sharing indecent image of a child for second time

A repeat child sex offender from Northampton has been sentenced to more than two years in prison after sharing an indecent image of a child for the second time.

Thomas Scott Brews, aged 41, of Euston Road, Northampton, was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court on Tuesday (April 5) after being caught sharing a “movie” depicting Category A child sex abuse, the most severe material under UK law.

The court heard that Brews shared the indecent image in a public parenting group on a communications app. Police later tracked Brews to his Northampton home using his computer’s IP address.

Miss Eunice Opare-Addo, prosecuting, read: “The police had launched an investigation into sexual interest in young children.

“They discovered a group, which Brews had joined. It was a public group.

"On August 5 2021, Brews posted an indecent movie of a child being sexually abused by an adult male. He also sent another user a private message, however there was no response to this message.

"The profile he used indicated that he had been on [the application] for 68 days prior to the offence.

"IP address data from Brews’ computer led police to the defendant’s Northampton address. Then Brews was not interviewed by police until January 18, where he stated that he had used [the application] but had not done so for about six months.

"He said that he could not specifically remember uploading the Category A image because he drank a lot and did ‘stupid things’ which he could not remember whilst drunk.”

This was not the first time that Brews was prosecuted for indecent images of children, as in November 2014 he was convicted in Scotland of making an indecent image of a child and was subject to a community order there, also known as a Community Payback Order.

Mr Liam Muir, defending, argued that Brews had never been given access to programmes like “Stop It Now" to address his behaviour, and that he had shown a “sincere” desire to take part and improve himself.

The defence also argued that, as Brews was drunk at the time, he needed help with his substance use as well as his mental health to see whether his crimes were linked to the drink or a genuine mental challenge.

However, Her Honour Judge Lucking QC was not convinced, saying that Brews had already “lost his good character” due to his 2014 offence and that he should have already known that what he was doing was wrong.

Her Honour said: “At that time you did not have, as it were, ‘work’ carried out with you in relation to sexual offenders.

"In that moment you lost your good character. You had a community order imposed and you knew at that point that it was clearly something that was unacceptable.

"There is no doubt that you have a clear sexual interest in children. This wouldn’t have occurred on two occasions if you didn’t.

"Is there a realistic chance of rehabilitation? I’m not satisfied that there is.”

Brews was sentenced to two years and two months in prison and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order was applied for ten years.