Ex-Tory Party campaign manager admits child abuse image offences
A former Conservative Party campaign manager has admitted a string of online child sexual abuse offences.
Mark Lerigo, 49, pleaded guilty to distributing indecent images of children at Warwick Crown Court.
He also admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, one count of possessing extreme pornography involving animals, one count of possessing prohibited images of children and one count of publishing an obscene article.
He was arrested in November 2018 following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
As well as the images, investigators found a WhatsApp chat with another offender discussing the sexual abuse of children.
Lerigo was found to have an iPad containing a total of 1,005 illegal images including 146 'category A' (the most serious) abuse pictures of children, and 258 images of extreme pornography.
He also had a laptop which contained evidence of 414 illegal images – 59 of which were 'category A'.
Lerigo, of William Bristow Road, Coventry, was a campaign manager for the Tories at the 2017 General Election and for the Britain Stronger In Europe group during the EU referendum.
Until recently he had been working as a press officer for the Conservatives in the West Midlands. The party says he was suspended as soon as the allegations came to light.
Graham Ellis, NCA operations manager, said: "Offenders who view indecent images are fuelling more and more sexual abuse of children.
"Every time an abuse image is shared or viewed the child is revictimised.
"Child sexual abuse is a priority threat for the NCA. It doesn’t matter what walk of life an offender is from, we will do everything in our power to catch them."
An NSPCC spokesman said: "By accessing and distributing this terrible content, Lerigo was helping to sustain a trade that thrives on children’s suffering.
"Children often endure appalling abuse for these kind of images and videos to be created. But law enforcement cannot solve this problem alone – big tech must be made to use their expertise and resources to quickly remove them from their platforms and identify who put them there in the first place."
Lerigo will be sentenced on August 21.
