London - A businesswoman living near the millionaire’s enclave of Sandbanks was jailed on Wednesday for taking indecent photographs of a child to stop her sick lover exposing their affair.
Katie Weeks, 36, lived a glamorous lifestyle in Poole, Dorset, and was married to the director of an interior design agency.
But she had an affair with paedophile Gareth Southcombe, 42, who persuaded her to send him vile abuse images of a young child.
After sending the pictures the ‘depraved’ pair then chatted about them online and ‘revelled’ in their content, a court heard.
Officers from the National Crime Agency were already investigating Southcombe, who had a history of downloading child pornography, and then began looking into Weeks, an illustrator and designer who produced gift cards.
Her husband Martyn knew nothing about his wife’s sickening double life until police arrived at their luxury home on the edge of Poole Harbour to arrest her, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.
In a police interview, Weeks blamed her secret lover for what she had done. She said she felt coerced and was worried that Southcombe would confront her husband if she stopped sending the images.
Weeks denied causing a child to engage in sexual activity as well as taking and distributing indecent photographs of a child, but was found guilty following a trial.
Southcombe, who owns his own boat-building company at Poole Marina, admitted possessing indecent photos of a child and possessing 43 indecent images found on his computer.
On Wednesday, Weeks wept as she was jailed for nine years while Southcombe was jailed for two.
Judge Stephen Climie said: ‘This is a case which involves offences of the utmost gravity, which have had a devastating impact on others.
‘It is difficult to understand how and why such depraved ideas would be repeated by anyone. The messages demonstrated you both revelled in the exchanges.’
Afterwards Hazel Stewart, the NCA operations manager, said: ‘It doesn’t matter what walk of life an offender is from, we will do everything in our power to catch them.’
The court heard Weeks was an ‘intelligent woman with plenty to offer’. But she was hiding a dark and twisted secret, hidden by a glamorous lifestyle.
Weeks sent the pictures to Southcombe between August and October 2017. James Horder, prosecuting, said Southcombe ‘didn’t disguise any delight’ in receiving them.
When officers from the NCA discovered them the following May, they arrested Weeks at her home after her ‘unsuspecting’ husband answered the door, Mr Horder said. ‘Police found a message from her to Southcombe asking him to delete the images,’ he added.
Audrey Archer, defending, said: ‘[Weeks] regrets putting everyone through a trial and accepts her wrongdoing in sending what she did to Mr Southcombe.’
Both were given indefinite sexual harm prevention orders.