Convicted paedophile jailed for possessing thousands of indecent images

A convicted paedophile from Winsford has been jailed again after he was found in possession of thousands of indecent images of children.

Gary McVeigh, of Delamere Street, appeared at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday 6 January where he was sentenced to 14 months in prison.

The 48-year-old had previously pleaded guilty to possession of an indecent of a child, possession of a prohibited image of a child, possession of an extreme pornographic images and three counts of making indecent images of children.

The court heard how on 21 May 2025, officers attended McVeigh’s address as part of the routine checks made to monitor registered sex offenders.

During the visit, officers discovered a mobile phone, a laptop, a USB stick and an SSD memory card. After checking the content of the devices, officers discovered a number of indecent images.

During further checks officers recovered more than 12,950 indecent images of children. There was also evidence showing that McVeigh had distributed more than 120,000 images to other paedophiles.

Following the sentencing, Detective Sergeant Helen Wrigley said:

“As a registered sex offender, McVeigh was subjected to a number of vigorous checks on a regular basis to prevent reoffending and ensure he was keeping to his conditions.

“He was well aware of these checks, but despite this he continued to offend, downloading and sharing thousands of indecent images which showed vulnerable children being tortured, raped and abused.

“Thankfully, through our effective monitoring, McVeigh was quickly arrested and is now facing the consequences of his actions.

“I hope it reassures people that we do carefully monitor registered sex offenders in the community and take action when a breach is discovered.”

In addition to his prison sentence, McVeigh was also ordered to pay £187 costs and sign the sex offenders register for ten years.