Peter Stilwest mugshot (Image: Cheshire Police)
A serial sex monster has been jailed for a third time in three years and branded a danger to UK children after being caught with almost 400,000 images of youngsters. Peter Stilwell, 38, has repeatedly been brought to court for having pornographic pictures of children on his computer yet ignored his legal ban on owning electronic equipment without permission and downloaded more images.
After being given suspended jail terms in 2021 and 2022, Stilwell was jailed for three years in 2023 over an unrelated drink driving smash which left a man seriously injured. But while on licence he was arrested again in 2025 for breaching a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) when detectives discovered he had 10 digital devices not registered with police.
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Stilwell, of Runcorn, Cheshire, was jailed for a further 27 months for the breach – but in custody was quizzed again after police searching through those 10 devices found 397,600 images of children.
Chester Crown Court heard officers stopped categorising the pictures after reviewing 2,101 of them. Some showed youngsters being raped.
Stilwell – already at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool – admitted three charges of possession of indecent images of children and handed another 13 months custody, a life-long SHPO and told to sign on the Sex Offender Register for life.
Judge Steven Everett told Stilwell: “You have a very bad record for this type of offence for which I have to sentence you.
“You received a suspended sentence for possession of indecent images in June 2021, a further suspended sentence order for similar matters including breaches in relation to the earlier imposed suspended sentence on December 14, 2022 and then postdating that three years custody for an entirely different type of offence of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
“While on that licence you appeared before me on April 10 2025 for breaches of the earlier imposed sexual harm prevention order, failing to register ten internet devices, failing to notify registration of a cloud account, failing to notify police of two USB devices and failing to comply with notification requirements for which I sentenced you to 27 months.
“Your life in the past five or six years has shown that you are a serial offender in relation to possession of indecent images of children and in my judgment you are at a high risk of causing serious harm to children.
“It is clear to me that you are undoubtedly a dangerous individual.”
Chester crown court (Image: Getty)
Prosecutor Dylan Wagg said the latest discovery emerged after police attended Stilwell’s home and discovered he had failed to register 10 internet devices and use of a cloud system, plus failing to notify possession of two USB devices.
He said 2,101 indecent images were subsequently recovered from a Samsung mobile phone and HP laptop.
He added: “The majority of them were deemed live and accessible.
“A total of 48 videos were present on the laptop. It is fair to say the categorisation of the media on the computer was stopped due to the large number of images. A total of 395,555 images were uncategorized.”
Stilwell gave no comment in police interviews. His counsel Jeremy Rawson said: “Until he was taken into custody he lived with his mother and stepfather who is now very seriously ill. His record does not assist him.”
After the case Det Con Kelsey Lee from Cheshire Constabulary’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) said: “Stilwell continued his offending and thought he could get away with it. He is now paying the price for his sickening behaviour.”