Scientist jailed for 500,000 child porn images

An astrophysicist was jailed for 15 months today after being caught with 500,000 indecent internet images of children.

During a “decade of dedicated downloading” father-of-two Robin Phillips built up what is thought to be the largest child porn collection yet found in Britain.

The Canadian-based scientist’s sick “obsession” was discovered when plain clothed officers spotted him taking up the skirt photographs of a schoolgirl playing on one of the Trafalgar Square lions during the summer.

Shots of a second youngster, as well as that of a young woman, were also found on his camera.

But London’s Southwark Crown Court heard it was only when detectives later examined the “eminent” scientist’s laptop at his parents’ home in Cansiron Lane, East Grinstead, West Sussex, the extent of his “fun hobby” was revealed.

The 33-year-old, who has since lost his research job at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, admitted one count of possessing indecent images, two of taking them on August 27 and one of trying to.

Married Phillips, dressed in a dark grey business suit, blue shirt and patterned tie, showed no reaction as Judge Paul Dodgson said the scale of his offending meant immediate imprisonment was inevitable.