Anthony Martin Milsom

Anthony Martin Milsom, a 62-year-old man from Newtown in Powys, was described by the court as a 'manipulative and predatory' sex offender whose actions would 'chill the blood of the parent of any young child'. In March 2011, he was initially sentenced at Mold Crown Court to an indeterminate period of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) after pleading guilty to a series of serious sexual offences dating back to the early 1990s. These included five counts of indecent assault on a girl aged between four and eight, 16 counts of possessing indecent images of children, and 21 counts of making such images. Additionally, he admitted to possessing cannabis.

The court heard that police searches of Milsom's home uncovered a vast and disturbing collection of material demonstrating his deep fascination with the sexual abuse, abduction, rape, and murder of young female children. This included more than 5,100 indecent drawings, over 200 photographs, 127,700 still images, 500 films, and 188 home-made videos. Many of these items were categorised as the most severe type of indecent images. Further compounding the horror, officers discovered newspaper cuttings related to high-profile child murder cases, such as those involving Milly Dowler, Sophie Hook, Holly Wells, Jessica Chapman, and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Alongside the IPP sentence, which is akin to a life term and requires release only upon approval by the Parole Board demonstrating reduced risk to society, Milsom was ordered to register as a sex offender for life and made subject to an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) to restrict his future activities. However, in a subsequent appeal heard at the Court of Appeal, judges Mr Justice Simon, Lord Justice Moses, and Judge Francis Gilbert overturned the indeterminate sentence. They acknowledged the gravity of Milsom's 'grave offences' and described many of the images as 'sickening', but ruled that they did not warrant an open-ended term from which he might never be released.

The Appeal Court substituted the IPP with a determinate sentence of three and a half years, stating that this 'reflects the overall criminality in respect of which he pleaded guilty'. The case, reported by the BBC on 15 March 2011, highlights the judiciary's assessment of proportionality in sentencing for sexual offences involving child exploitation material and historical assaults.