💥 EXPOSED: KENT POLICE OFFICER CAUGHT WITH HORRIFIC CATEGORY A CHILD ABUSE IMAGES USED DARK WEB SOFTWARE TO HIDE HIS TRACKS A disgraced Kent Police officer who was supposed to protect vulnerable children was instead secretly accessing some of the most disturbing child sexual abuse material imaginable — using specialist software to conceal his activities from investigators. Thomas Blant, then aged 38, had served as a police constable for six years when his sickening double life was uncovered by the National Crime Agency. But despite admitting two offences involving indecent images of children, including material in the most serious Category A classification, the father-of-two escaped an immediate prison sentence. Blant was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years. The case exposed an extraordinary betrayal of public trust by a serving police officer whose professional responsibility was to uphold the law and protect the very people exploited in the material he was accessing. Investigators discovered that Blant had been using TOR, software capable of providing anonymous access to the dark web, alongside a computer-cleaning application designed to remove traces of online activity. He apparently believed his attempts to conceal his activities would prevent investigators from uncovering the truth. He was wrong. National Crime Agency officers traced access to a website containing child sexual abuse material to his family home in Wye, near Ashford, Kent. When officers raided the property in January 2020, they seized electronic devices and began a forensic investigation. What they uncovered was deeply disturbing. Despite Blant's attempts to delete evidence, investigators recovered 17 indecent images of children from his laptop, including Category A material, the most serious classification of child sexual abuse imagery. Another four illegal images were recovered from an old mobile phone. In total, 21 indecent images were identified across his devices. The court heard how Blant had deliberately used software intended to disguise his internet activity and remove evidence of the websites he had visited. Judge Philip Statman confronted the former officer over his actions, telling him: "You thought you would never be caught because of the protection you had installed on your computer. You have a predilection for young girls." The judge also spoke about the devastating impact on Blant's family, telling him that his actions and appearance in court had put his wife through hell. Blant had moved out of the family home following his arrest and was living in Southend, with restrictions placed on his contact with his children. He pleaded guilty to two counts of making indecent images of children, an offence which includes downloading illegal images. Despite the seriousness of the offending, Blant avoided immediate imprisonment. Alongside his suspended sentence, he was ordered to attend 40 rehabilitation sessions, made subject to a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and required to register as a sex offender for ten years. Kent Police suspended him following his arrest and subsequently dismissed him from the force. The National Crime Agency condemned his offending as a shocking abuse of the position of trust he had held as a police officer. Martin Ludlow, speaking for the agency, described the case as an "outrageous misuse of trust" and stressed that accessing such material fuels the exploitation of real children The case raised serious questions about how a serving police constable could secretly access child sexual abuse material while remaining in a position of authority and public trust. For six years, Blant had worn the uniform of a police force entrusted with protecting communities across Kent. Predator awareness