Bet365 employee downloaded hundreds of child sex abuse images while working from home

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A Bet365 employee downloaded hundreds of child sex abuse images while working from home during lockdown, a court heard. The sordid discovery was made on Joshua Wood's computer after his boss suspected him of gambling during work time, Stoke-on-TrentLive reports.

When Wood, 29, returned his computer to his bosses at the online bookmaker it had been wiped clean. But software was used to retrieve 453 indecent images of children, including 313 at category A - the most serious. READ MORE: Man charged after 57-year-old dies following altercation outside social club There were also two videos including one of Wood performing a sex act on himself while telling a girl who 'looked 14' to 'do things'.

Now Wood has been jailed for three years and three months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court. Prosecutor Peter McCartney said the defendant began working for Bet365 in 2019 and when the covid pandemic began in 2020 the company provided computers to some staff to allow them to work from home.

Wood received a brand new computer and began working from home in April 2020. But his team leader arranged for the computer to be returned on April 30, 2020.