Surgeon sentenced for thousands of child abuse images

Surgeon sentenced for thousands of child abuse images

A surgeon at the Royal Stoke Hospital has been sentenced for downloading, making and viewing thousands of child abuse images.

Cristian Bogdan, 42, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the hospital, pleaded guilty to the offences at Chester Crown Court in April and today (31/7/2019) was given a 12-month jail term, suspended for two years. He must undergo 35 hours of rehabilitation and do 150 hours of unpaid work in the community.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) built a strong case against Bogdan, who is married and lived in Congleton, leaving him with no option but to plead guilty.

The CPS authorised the charges based on a total of 13,096 still pictures and two videos depicting child sexual abuse. Computers at his home also contained 9742 child sex abuse cartoons.

He was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, one count of possessing indecent photographs of children and one count of possessing prohibited images of children. He pleaded guilty to all charges at a Pre-Trial Preparation Hearing (PTPH) at Chester Crown Court.

Bogdan was arrested on 1 December 2017 at his home by officers from Cheshire Police’s Paedophile and Cyber Investigation Team. In a search of his home, officers found several devices storing thousands of child abuse images. Further investigation proved that he had actively searched for the images.

Initially Bogdan made no comment but on 9 January 2019 he went to Macclesfield Police Station with a prepared statement admitting downloading, viewing and searching for indecent images of children.

The court today also imposed a detailed Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years which states that Bogdan must not acquire a computer unless he tells the police first and gives them the make and serial number. The device must also have the capacity to retain the history of internet use and Bogdan must not try and wipe that history. If he uses a computer at work or elsewhere he must again tell the police first and, again, he must not store anything unless he tells the police first and he must not wipe the internet use history.

The court also ordered that the computers and devices owned by Bogdan be seized and destroyed.

Damion Lloyd, for the CPS, said: “At work Bogdan held down a difficult and respected job. At home he was searching for and downloading thousands of images of children being sexually abused.

“In interview he tried to downplay the amount of images he had, claiming he had downloaded them in bulk and deleted most of them, but it was clear that he was continually actively seeking out these images of abuse.

“He had no previous convictions and had a responsible job yet he risked all of that in the pursuit of these crimes. Sexual abuse has a dreadful impact on victims and the sexual abuse of children can affect them for the rest of their lives.

“To view the images of this abuse and to make such images is a crime and the Crown Prosecution Service, working with the police, will do all we can to bring the perpetrators to justice.”