Shifnal optician sentenced

Timothy Vanes, formerly the owner of Tim Vanes Opticians in Shifnal, has been sentenced to a community order including 100 hours of unpaid work and 35 rehabilitation days, to last two years.

As reported in Optician, Vanes was charged with possessing extreme pornographic images of animals, alongside over 6,000 indecent images of children. He was sentenced on March 6.

Recorder John Benson, the judge in the case, did not sentence Vanes to jail because he voluntarily sought out the services of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a charity which provides resources to rehabilitate people view sexual images of children, cooperated with police and showed genuine remorse.