A SERVING Sellafield police officer secretly amassed a depraved collection of more than 18,000 child abuse images, including ones which showed the “sadistic rape and abuse” of babies.

Shaun Mandale, 45, plunged the “very depths of depravity”, said the judge who sentenced him at Carlisle Crown Court.

The defendant, from Belvedere Road, Workington, was jailed after he pleaded guilty to several offences. They included possessing 18,135 child abuse images, of which 7,651 were classed as Category A, the most serious kind; possessing 52 prohibited images of children; and possessing 96 extreme pornography images.

He was accessing the images over a 17-month period - from February, 2020, until July, 2021.  Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson outlined the upsetting facts of the case.

He said the offending came to light when police raided Mandale's home, the officers having had a tip-off that the defendant was using a “cloud storage” facility to access illegal child images.

Mandale was using various internet browsing tools to keep his habit of downloading such sickening images – still photos and videos – secret from everybody around him. 

He was also using cryptocurrency.

In secret communications with fellow perverts, he spoke of needing to be “discreet” because his wife was in bed in another room. The court then heard details of some of the images collected by Mandale.

“It was a huge collection of child sexual abuse material,” said Mr Rogerson. “It included rape and the sadistic abuse of babies.” Some of the abuse victims were tethered while they were being abuse.

One such victim was a boy thought to be about one year old, the court heard. The image showed him screaming in distress and struggling as he was being abused, the court heard.

Brendan Burke, defending, said that Mandale’s life had been “devastated” by his offending, leading to the end of his marriage and what had been a “genuine” and "almost successful" suicide attempt.

But, said the barrister, the defendant had taken steps to address his behaviour.

This included two things: firstly, he was working with an organisation called Safer Lives, designed to make him more aware of his flaws and to take steps to address them; and secondly, Mandale had turned his back on drugs and alcohol.

“That was one of the reasons for the offending,” said Mr Burke.

The barrister spoke also of Mandale having issues not just with substances but also with Asperger’s syndrome, which led to obsessive behaviour and “unbridled curiosity.”

Judge Ian Unsworth KC told Mandale: “You have plunged the very depths of depravity... having images of babies of six months being subjected to the most appalling depravity one can imagine.

“It truly defies belief that someone would have contemplated such a thing, let alone recorded it for paedophiles like you to watch.” The judge noted also that Mandale deployed sophisticated software to conceal what he was doing.

Judge Unsworth added: “It’s important to note that each and every one of those children are victims; somewhere in the world they were being abused. If it were not for people like you, if it were not for paedophiles who want to look at such material, it may well be that such activities would be less likely to occur.

“It’s worth noting that these are not just images; they are babies, or children; and they have suffered a great deal.”

The judge jailed Mandale, who has no previous convictions, for 33 months and put him on the Sex Offender Register for life. He will also be subjected to a sexual harm prevention order for the next decade.

A spokesman for the Civil Nuclear Constabulary described Mandale's offending as "repugnant". 

CNC Chief Constable Simon Chesterman said: “All those who work in the police service know that their behaviour and actions have to be of the highest standards to ensure we maintain the trust of those we police by consent. On behalf of the CNC, I can say that we are angry, upset and sickened by his vile actions.”