Ipswich man jailed for 21 years for child sex offences
Suffolk Police say the sentence handed down reflects the severity of the crimes
A man from Ipswich has been jailed for 21 years after pleading guilty to nine child sex offences at Ipswich Crown Court last October.
Christopher Banham was handed the sentence at the same court on Monday 18th January and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of raping a child, four counts of sexual assault of a child by penetration, one count of taking indecent photographs of a child and one count of distributing indecent photographs of a child.
Banham was arrested by Suffolk Police after they were notified by the National Crime Agency of messages he had sent via the online messaging app, Kik Messenger.
He used it to distribute indecent images and also alluded to the crimes he had committed within a chat group on the app.
PC Chloe Bilner, of the South Safeguarding Investigations Unit, said: "The sentence handed down today reflects the severity of the truly shocking and despicable crimes committed by Christopher Banham.
"The impact of offences such as these on the victims is immeasurable and cause untold trauma and suffering. We are continually grateful for the bravery shown by survivors of sexual abuse in speaking to us and helping us to ensure justice is done.
"I hope the outcome of this case reassures members of the public that we take these allegations extremely seriously and work to safeguard victims as quickly as possible. We will do everything in our power to bring offenders to justice."
Suffolk Police is urging anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, either recently or in the past, to report it to the police or other support organisation.