GP joined online chat to distribute indecent images of children

Huw Glover, 58, of Crown Mews, Newport, was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court to a two-year community order after admitting one count of attempting to publish an obscene article.

He will be required to complete 80 hours of unpaid work and 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

The court was told that on August 20, 2019, Glover joined a social media group for people with an interest in paedophilia where he discussed his child abuse fantasies with someone he thought was a fellow paedophile. They were in fact an undercover police officer.

During the conversation, Glover, who was a GP in Wolverhampton, pretended to be a woman and talked about children as young as eight being sexually abused by adults.

He was identified as the sender of the messages through enquiries made by the police with the social media app, and a warrant was executed at his address on September 3, 2019, where police recovered a Samsung phone.

Glover had attempted to delete the app from his phone before his arrest but sufficient information remained to identify him as the sender of the messages.

The fake profile photo he used for his online chat account was also discovered on his phone.

He answered no comment during his police interview and denied the offences. He later changed his plea during his trial when he admitted the crime.

Sarah Belshah of the CPS said: “Within these messages, Dr Glover discussed his innermost fantasies which related to the sexual abuse of young children.

"The idea of anyone with such fantasies practising as a GP is both abhorrent and extremely concerning.

"It was therefore in the public interest to prosecute this case and to overcome the many attempted efforts to defend it before, eventually, a guilty plea was entered.”