A statistician from Chippenham has avoided jail for possessing child abuse images.
Dr Anthony Masters pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photos of children when he appeared at Swindon Crown Court last year.
He admitted collecting four category A images – which show penetrative sexual activity, the most serious kind of child abuse.
The Chartered Statistician, of Tavinor Drive, Chippenham, also accepted having two category B images and six category C images.
Despite his conviction for child-related sex crimes, Masters remains listed as one of the The Royal Statistical Society’s ambassadors.
UPDATE: Royal society remove Chippenham sex offender as ambassador
He co-authored the book Covid by Numbers – which was written to ‘expose the leading misconceptions about the virus and the vaccine’.
36-year-old Masters was given a 12-month community order with the requirement to complete 150 hours of unpaid work in the community.
He was also ordered to undertake 30 rehabilitation activity days with the probation service and register as a sex offender for five years.
A Sexual Harm Prevention Order was also put in place and will last five years.
