Heathfield man sentenced in county's first AI-generated abusive image case
James Castell, 40, of Heathfield, was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on 19 December after pleading guilty to possessing and distributing indecent images of children, including AI-generated pseudo-photographs. Sussex Police began investigating in October 2024 and found more than 3,800 images, along with AI image-generation software. He received an 18-month suspended sentence, a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and was ordered to register as a sex offender.
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