A former senior civil servant in the Cabinet Office has avoided jail after admitting possessing hundreds of indecent images of children.
Marco Salzedo was sentenced at Norwich Magistrates' Court on Friday after pleading guilty to possessing 312 images and videos of children, 139 of which were category A, including images of babies.
Salzedo was director of commercial and contract management capability at the Cabinet Office but has been dismissed from the role. He was also briefly joint interim government chief commercial officer.
He has been sentenced to a 12‑month community order, ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and has been placed on the sex offenders register for five years.
Category A images are considered the most serious, depicting the most extreme and harmful material involving sexual activity or abuse of a child.
The offences took place between July 2021 and April 2025, when Salzedo was arrested.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: "The individual was suspended after arrest. His employment with the civil service has since been terminated."
A further hearing on March 3 will determine whether Salzedo will be made subject to a sexual harm prevention order. SHPOs are used to place prohibitions on people who have a sexual conviction and where the court believes the risk they pose requires restrictions on behaviour to prevent further sexual offending.