Former Peterborough doctor jailed for possession of child abuse images

A former Peterborough doctor who was found with hundreds of thousands of child abuse images has been jailed.
Dr Michael Kennedy appears at Cambridge crown court for sentencing after pleading guilty to possessing 800,000 indecent images of children from Cat A to Cat C
. Dr Michael Kennedy appears at Cambridge crown.Cambridge Crown Court, Cambridge. Fri Nov 11 2016 06:02:21 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time). ;Picture by Terry Harris / PaperPixDr Michael Kennedy appears at Cambridge crown court for sentencing after pleading guilty to possessing 800,000 indecent images of children from Cat A to Cat C
. Dr Michael Kennedy appears at Cambridge crown.Cambridge Crown Court, Cambridge. Fri Nov 11 2016 06:02:21 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time). ;Picture by Terry Harris / PaperPix
Dr Michael Kennedy appears at Cambridge crown court for sentencing after pleading guilty to possessing 800,000 indecent images of children from Cat A to Cat C . Dr Michael Kennedy appears at Cambridge crown.Cambridge Crown Court, Cambridge. Fri Nov 11 2016 06:02:21 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time). ;Picture by Terry Harris / PaperPix

Michael Kennedy, a former practice partner at the Millfield Medical Centre, was locked up for two years and eight months at Cambridge Crown Court today after pleading guilty to a number of offences.

Kennedy appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on August 10 and pleaded guilty to one count of making category A indecent images of children, one count of making category B indecent images of children, one count of making category C indecent images of children, one count of possessing prohibited images of children, and three counts of possessing extreme pornographic images. The court was told Kennedy, of Pegus Road, Peterborough, admitted possessing more than 800,000 indecent images.

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Of the indecent images of children, 2,002 were deemed to be category A, 6,737 category B and 839,349 category C – category A being the worst. There were 43 prohibited images of children, and a total of 478 extreme pornographic images in Dr Kennedy’s possession.

Today (Friday, November 11) Dr Kennedy appeared a Cambridge Crown Court and was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. He has also been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and made subject of a life-long Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). He must also forfeit all devices seized by police which were found to have the indecent images on them.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Sloan, from the Public Protection Department (PPD), said: “While there was no evidence of any contact offending, nor first-generation images; ones which Dr Kennedy had taken himself, it is clear from what was uncovered that Dr Kennedy has an unhealthy interest in indecent images of children and extreme pornography.

“Never in my time as a police officer have I seen such an extensive collection of such images; more than 800,000 individual images all stored, filed and categorised like a library. The quantity of imagery recovered in this case makes this the biggest investigation of this type in Cambridgeshire.”

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Following his guilty plea, A spokesman for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG and NHS England said: “Dr Michael Kennedy, formerly of Millfield Medical Centre in Peterborough, has been charged with a number of offences relating to indecent images of children.

“He has been suspended from practising at this time, although we would like to make it clear that the offences do not relate to the surgery.”