Daniel Graham Turner

Daniel Graham Turner, a 33-year-old resident of Eastbourne, East Sussex, has been imprisoned for a second time due to child sex offences. On 2 March 2021, he appeared at Lewes Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to multiple charges involving the creation and distribution of indecent images of children, as well as violating a previously imposed Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). The court handed down a total sentence of seven years, with the initial four years to be served in custody and the remaining three years under supervised release on licence.

This conviction follows Turner's earlier imprisonment in September 2016 at Hove Crown Court, where he received a four-and-a-half-year sentence for causing or inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity, along with nine counts related to making and distributing indecent images of children. These prior offences occurred while he lived in Polegate between 2004 and 2014. As part of that earlier case, Turner was placed on the sex offenders' register for life and subjected to an indefinite SHPO, which strictly limits his access to digital devices and contact with children.

The recent investigation was initiated by the Sussex Police Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT), who received intelligence indicating that Turner was accessing indecent images online despite the restrictions. Officers attended his home on Longstone Road in Eastbourne, arrested him, and seized several digital devices. Forensic examination revealed that Turner had downloaded images of young girls, including Category A material—the most severe type—exchanged these images with others, and participated in online discussions about his sexual interests in children. Importantly, none of the images were believed to involve local children; all were sourced from the internet.

Turner will remain on the sex offenders' register for life, and the SHPO continues indefinitely, further restricting his use of digital communications and interactions with minors. Detective Inspector Andy Harbour from POLIT commented on the case, stating: "This investigation demonstrates our commitment in actively pursuing information about this type of offending, and to monitor sex offenders in the community. Anyone who downloads or distributes indecent images of children, each one of which is by definition evidence of a child being abused, risks a knock on the door from us at any time. They will be brought before the courts and this case shows that systematic offending like this can attract a particularly substantial prison sentence." The case underscores Sussex Police's ongoing efforts to combat online child exploitation.

Source: Bournefree Live, 23 March 2021.