FORMER YOUTH COACH CAUGHT WITH INDECENT IMAGES OF CHILDREN HANDED SUSPENDED SENTENCE

A former Isle of Wight youth football coach has been handed a suspended prison sentence and forced to register as a sex offender after being convicted of possessing indecent images of children. Reece Simon Anderson, 23, of Vectis Road in East Cowes, appeared before Southampton Crown Court for sentencing on Friday after pleading guilty to 3 counts of possession of an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child, namely 25 Category A, 117 Category B and 16 Category C images, as well as 13 Category A videos. In October 2021, Police moved in and arrested the then Solent University student – thought to be at his accommodation in the city of Southampton. An examination of his devices revealed a stash of more than 170 indecent images or videos of varying severity. According to Anderson’s social accounts, the paedophile had been involved in football as a youth coach since September 2018, qualifying as an FA Level 1 coach in January 2020. At university, the 23-year-old had been studying Football Studies (BA) with an interest in youth development and an aspiration to become an academy manager for a professional football team. Anderson has now been barred from working with children following his sentencing. Recorder Gordon Bebb KC handed Reece Anderson a 6-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and placed him on the sex offenders register for a period of 7 years. Anderson has also been made subject to a 7-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to complete a Horizon programme with 25 rehabilitation days. His devices are to be destroyed.