![Organiser Ingrid Pope [pictured] launched Tunbridge Wells Yard Sale last year after seeing a similar event in the US.](https://www.timeslocalnews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/maidstone-crown-court.jpg)
A former police detective inspector has been jailed for 18 weeks for possessing more than 22,000 child sex abuse images.
Max Holway, 54, of Boyne Park, Tunbridge Wells, was based at Tonbridge Police Station but left the force in March last year.
He admitted three offences of possessing indecent images of children last month and was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court last week.
The court heard he left the force due to ‘issues in relation to looking at pornography on the Kent Police system’.
Holway was arrested on July 27 last year after staff at a PC repair shop in Tunbridge Wells noticed the material and contacted the police.
It transpired he bought the computer on eBay and downloaded the images over a six hour period.
The three offences were: Possessing 24 category B images [the second most serious] possessing 21,824 category C images and possessing 30 movie clips, considered to be category C.
At first Holway tried to blame his lodger but eventually admitted the offences.
Judge Charles Macdonald QC told Maidstone Crown Court at the sentencing: ‘There is good character. ‘The court is duty bound to pass a deterrent sentence, so it doesn’t carry a great deal of weight.
‘The appropriate punishment can only achieved by immediate custody.’
In addition to the imprisonment, Holway’s name will appear on the sex offenders’ register for ten years. He will be barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.
