A Paedophile from Dover, Matthew Downing, has been incarcerated after specialised officers from Kent Police located him 100 miles away from his residence.
Matthew Downing received a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in January 2022 following his conviction for charges that included the creation of indecent pictures of children.
His internet connection is rigorously regulated, necessitating prior notification to Kent Police and the installation of monitoring software before he can utilise any phone or computer.
In February 2025, officers discovered that Matthew Downing, 25, had been utilising such gadgets without authorisation, but they were unable to locate him at his residence on Salisbury Road, Dover.
Consequently, he was classified as a missing sex offender and was located within days, resting in a recently acquired vehicle in the Surrey village of Gomshall by officers from the MOSOVO (Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders) Targeting Team.
Matthew Downing was apprehended and declined to respond to enquiries during the interview, subsequently facing charges for 13 distinct offences, including 10 violations of his SHPO. This pertains to his use of an anonymous web browser, an online storage medium, and a social networking application featuring ephemeral communications, as well as his omission to inform law enforcement about his possession of a smartphone, a laptop, and two virtual machines.
Matthew Downing utilised the dark web to produce illicit photos of minors and violated his notification obligations by neglecting to register usernames from dating applications.
Matthew Downing entered a guilty plea to all charges and received a sentence of five years and three months’ imprisonment at his appearance at Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday, 8 May 2025, which included two years and three months for unconnected acts done outside of Kent.
Detective Constable Marie-Anne Boulton of Kent Police stated:
‘Matthew Downing has repeatedly demonstrated that he cannot be trusted to access the internet without being complicit in the sexual abuse of children whose images he views and shares online.
‘Sexual Harm Prevention Orders help to reduce the risk offenders like Downing may pose to the public after being released from prison, and enforcing them is a responsibility we take very seriously.
‘Downing thought he could get away with hiding his devices from us by running away to Surrey, but our specialist officers were quickly able to locate him and bring him to justice. He will now serve another period of time behind bars as a result.’
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