A DOCTOR who worked at a hospital in Warwickshire has been convicted of downloading ‘horrific’ child abuse images featuring children as young as five.
At Leicester Crown Court on March 1, Sharmake Abdulahi Maxamed, a 29-year-old Swedish national, was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, as well as the possession of cocaine.
He was found in possession of over 50 indecent images and videos of children, 28 of which were category A – the most extreme.
In July 2020, the National Crime Agency (NCA) was alerted by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) after an online account linked to Maxamed received a folder containing several hundred files.
The file names indicated that they showed the abuse of children aged between five and 15 years old, and the sender was an Australian national who had been arrested by the AFP after sharing indecent images of children.
In October 2021, NCA officers arrested Maxamed at his home in Leicester. His phone was seized, and officers also found a small quantity of cocaine.
Evidence recovered from his mobile phone showed he had searched for the material online and had sent messages to another user, stating he was in his car and was going to ‘have a line’ before returning to work. He followed this up with a photo of two lines of white powder.
Maxamed did not work with children – and, as a newly employed doctor, was still being chaperoned at work prior to his arrest. His contract has been terminated.
The NCA has not named the hospital where Maxamed worked.
Senior Investigating Officer Danielle Pownall of the NCA said: “Maxamed sought out images showing the horrific abuse of children.
“Thanks to work by dedicated officers at the NCA, as well as support from our colleagues in Australia, we were able to bring him to justice.
“The NCA is committed to protecting children and ensuring that individuals who collect this material, and create a demand for abuse content, are held to account.”
