Former Conservative Party Campaign Manager Sentenced over Child Sex Abuse Crimes

By Tony Winterburn • Published: 21 Aug 2020 • 19:55

Former Conservative Party campaign manager avoids jail after admitting online child sex abuse crimes.

49-year-old Mark Lerigo was found to have a massive collection of pornographic images of children on his laptop and iPad. The former campaign manager for the Conservative Party was today sentenced for online child sexual abuse offences.

Lerigo was caught after a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation, which discovered he had more than 1,000 indecent pictures of children and more than 250 images of extreme pornography – some even involving animals.

He walked free from Warwick Crown Court today after it heard he has been judged not to pose a high risk to children. The judge handed Lerigo, 49, a suspended jail term and told him he must complete 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £670 court costs. He will now be registered as a sex offender for 10 years – with a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and a four-month curfew.

The police found that a total of 205 images were “category A” abuse pictures with the most serious, along with 672 images of extreme pornography, 261 category B images and 299 category C images, along with 59 prohibited images of children.

Secret chat messages were also discovered which showed Lerigo having conversations about child sex offences. He had also watched online streaming sessions showing images of child sex abuse, the court was told.