Doctor sentenced for child abuse chat

A Wolverhampton general practitioner who joined an online chat to distribute indecent images of children has been sentenced.

Huw Glover, 58, of Shropshire was sentenced yesterday (9 November) at Shrewsbury Crown Court to a two-year community order for one count of attempting to publish an obscene article. He was also required to complete 80 hours of unpaid work and 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

On 20 August 2019, Glover joined a social media group for people with interest in paedophilia and incest where he discussed his child abuse fantasies with someone he thought was a fellow paedophile, who was in fact an undercover police officer.

During the conversation, Glover pretended to be a woman and talked about exchanging children as young as eight to be 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 3 September 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, 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.”