The former politician was sentenced to nine years in prison for creating pseudo and non-pseudo images of children, sending indecent messages using the telecoms network and possessing extreme pornography.
‘This community put its trust in you as its representative and ambassador,’ said Judge Fooks.
‘It believed that you were a man of impeccable character, as well as a man of faith. In your own words, you have let down many who supported you and dishonoured the principles you stood for and promoted.
‘You have quite rightly accepted that the commission of such offences by a person in your position undermines public confidence.
‘Today marks the beginning of the work that you say you are ready to undertake to address your behaviour. You owe it to the victims and your community.’
The court was told that making deepfakes, which is not an offence in Guernsey, but distributing them is. The law is being changed to address this.
Le Tocq was caught using 29 X accounts, formerly known as Twitter, in various fake and true names.
The court heard that software he used to create deepfakes made the images look real, even if they were a combination of a true face and a body taken from a pornographic website.
There is no distinction between pseudo images and real images for sentencing purposes.
The 2012 Court of Appeal provided guidelines in relation to sentencing in indecent images cases in Guernsey, said Judge Fooks.
With the number of images found on Le Tocq’s devices, the starting point was set at six years.
Judge Fooks said the aggravating factors was the large number of first generation images in which local children had been identified, and the effects as heard in victim impact statements.
She said that the impact on the children involved in this case were significantly greater in a close knit community and that the impact statements made for ‘harrowing reading’.
‘Each described the devastating effect of learning that their names and images, and in some cases, images of their children, had been used by you in your warped fantasies,’ said Judge Fooks.
‘The content of the messages was deeply offensive, utterly shocking and thoroughly revolting.
‘Their pain and horror at what you have done is all too evident.’
In terms of possessing extreme images, Le Tocq had 218 on his devices, but they were not first-generation.
‘218 cannot be described as small, but sadly may not be the largest number the court will have to deal with,’ said Judge Fooks. ‘The images, though horrific, may not be the worst possible.’
The court took a starting point of 30 months, and the sentence for that charge was 15 months.
For sending indecent messages using the telecommunications network, Guernsey is constrained by a maximum two-year sentence.
Indecent messaging was the count with the longest duration of offending and a starting point of 21 months was set out, and that remained as the final sentence.
Aggravating factors included using real people’s names, photographs and profiles.
‘There are multiple offences across multiple devices and a level of sophistication in the use of software,’ said Judge Fooks.
She described the social inquiry report as ‘informative and realistic’.
She said that the report noted that Le Tocq had worked ‘exceptionally hard in the community as a distinguished politician and church leader’ and highlighted his charitable work. Several charities had written in support of him.
His cooperation with the investigation was said to be ‘extensive and exceptional’, providing passwords to devices reduced what would have been a lengthy and complex investigation.
‘We accept that without your cooperation, some of the offending might never have been uncovered,’ she added.
He was given credit for his guilty pleas at the earliest opportunity.
Judge Fooks said there was no evidence that Le Tocq used his roles as a deputy or pastor in relation to the offences.
She said using deepfakes was not an offence the court wished to see and therefore there was a deterrent element to the sentence.
With the principle of totality in mind, the final sentence was a total of nine years in prison, six years for pseudo and non-pseudo indecent images of children, 15 months for extreme pornography and 21 months for indecent messaging.
Le Tocq will be subject to an extended sentence for two years and will be on the sex offender register for five years. His devices are to be destroyed.