A former Suffolk school headteacher who was found with more than a million indecent images of children and a man who had sexual conversations with a fictitious schoolgirl are among the criminals put behind bars this week.

Joseph Williams

The former Suffolk man was jailed for 42 months after he was arrested as a result of a paedophile sting during which he had sexual conversations with a fictitious schoolgirl.

Williams, 27, now of Lampits Hill, Stanford-Le-Hope, admitted attempting to incite a 10-year-old child to engage in sexual activity, three offences of making indecent images of children and one offence of distributing indecent images of children.

As well as being jailed he was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register.

Ipswich Crown Court court heard that experts who analysed Williams’ mobile phone found one indecent image and six videos in the most serious level A category, nine category B indecent images and 19 images in the lowest level C category.

Simon Gladwell for Williams, who formerly lived in Suffolk, said the charge of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity didn’t involve a real child.

John Morton

The 33-year-old has been jailed for 27 months after he punched his former partner causing her to fall over and hit her head on the ground.

Morton of Chedburgh Place, Haverhill punched the woman directly in the face and she later described feeling as though her head was “going to explode”, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Sentencing Morton Recorder Paul Garlick said: “ Your conduct amounted to a concerted and persistent course of violent and coercive behaviour on a vulnerable woman.”

On another occasion, the victim had been at her home when Morton started shouting at her and slapping her.

As she tried to leave he had pulled her back and put his arm around her throat.

When the victim returned to her home later she found some of her belongings had been smashed.

As a result of the incident, she suffered a swollen lip and bruising to her face and body.

Morton, admitted offences of battery on May 13 last year, assault causing actual bodily harm on August 4 last year, having a machete on November 27 last year and breach of a suspended prison sentence.

In addition to being jailed, he was banned from contacting his former partner until further order.

Ian Bridges

The 56-year-old Colchester man has been jailed for four years after he was arrested as a result of a paedophile sting during which he had sexual conversations with a fictitious schoolgirl.

Bridges of High Street Colchester began communicating online earlier this year with an undercover police officer he believed to be a 12-year-old girl called ‘Chloe’, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

During conversations he sent the fictitious girl a number of pornographic images and told her what he would like to do with her.

He told her he was 50-year-old and despite it being made clear that she was only 12 years old.

The court heard that Bridges was arrested in March this year and made admissions about his contact with the decoy schoolgirl.

He had also accepted continuing contact with her and having sexually graphic conversations with her knowing she was only 12.

Bridges of High Street Colchester admitted attempting to engage a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to cause a child under 13 to watch a sexual act and three offences of making indecent images of children.

In addition to being jailed for four years, he was given an extended licence period of three years.

Thomas Singleton

The former Suffolk school headteacher was jailed for five years after he downloaded more than a million indecent images of children.

When detectives examined electronic devices belonging to the 41-year-old they found he had superimposed his face and the face of a former pupil onto a picture of a child being sexually abused by a man.

When police raided Thomas Singleton’s Stowmarket home in February 2021 they found a toddler-sized doll, dressed in a pink dress with its blond hair in plaits, in his bed.

He admitted three offences of making indecent images of children, two offences of taking indecent images of children, possessing a paedophile manual, possessing prohibited images and possessing extreme pornographic images.

The court heard that experts who examined electronic devices belonging to Singleton, who has no previous convictions, found 20,254 indecent images of children in the most serious level A category, 21,539 level B images and more than one million indecent images of children in the lowest level C category.

They also found 45,216 prohibited images of children and 52 extreme pornographic images as well as 13 category A pseudo indecent images of a child and 24 pseudo images in category B.

They also found a 170 page "paedophile manual".

Natasha Nair for Singleton who attended the sentencing hearing via a prison video link said he’d voluntarily taken steps to address his offending behaviour through therapy since his arrest.