South Tyneside 'drug taxing' chemical attacker caught with child porn

Kenneth Fawcett was sentenced to life behind bars last month following the death of Andy Foster who was squirted with ammonia during a doorstep attack in Gateshead last August. The 33-year-old was found guilty alongside co-defendants Youssef Wynne, Josh Hawthorn and John Wandless following a series of attacks in the region in which another man needed hospital treatment and a woman lost an eye.

The court heard during the trial that Fawcett was the "enforcer" who worked under drug dealer Wynne. Mr Foster had the liquid thrown at him as he answered his front door on August 20 last year which caused a fatal heart attack. Days after the attack, Fawcett was arrested and had his phone seized which is when officers spotted the illicit content on the device. Prosecutor Robert Stevenson said: "He is currently serving a life sentence. All of these offences were committed in August of last year. "In relation to the circumstances of making indecent images - he was arrested on the 26th of August of last year." The court heard officers found 95 still and moving images in the worst category of A, followed by 24 in category B and 17 in category C via the Telegram app. Mr Stevenson added: "On the app the defendant held conversations with eight unknown accounts during which a previous telegram app was deactivated so he was using this one. "He said he was looking for videos of girls and had videos of boys to trade." The ages of the children amongst the material ranged from three to five years old. Mr Recorder James Wood KC sentenced him to another two years, to run concurrently with his life sentence which has a minimum term of 32 years. The recorder told him: "There is very little I can do as far as this case is concerned." Fawcett, of Balkwell Avenue, North Shields, admitted three counts of making indecent images. Fawcett and the other men were sentenced last month for their roles in the death of Mr Foster and the other victims in the case. The court heard that Wynne and Hawthorn were not present at any of the four attacks but Wynne was involved in organising the attacks and Hawthorne was also involved in arranging the fatal attack.