According to the  Yorkshire Evening Post, West Yorkshire Police officers arrested a crew member on a Southampton-based cruise ship for possession of a vast amount of child pornography.

The newspaper article identifies the crew member as Howard Ellis, age 60. He reportedly worked as a musician on a cruise ship. The police arrested him when his ship came returned to the port at Southampton. 

The police seized "three lap top computers, four hard drives and a mobile phone" which reportedly contained 625 images and movies of children, some as young as seven years old, being Howard Ellissexually abused.

The article does not identify the name of the cruise line, however Mr. Ellis’ website states that he has worked as a musician for MSC Cruises for the last two years. 

What’s particularly disturbing is that this is not Mr. Ellis’ first conviction for child pornography. The newspaper article indicates that he has two previous convictions for downloading abusive images of children in January and March 2010 and was sentenced to 18 months in jail. 

His resume indicates that he has worked as an entertainer in the cruise industry for the better part of two decades. He worked for Carnival from 1994 to 2004; Royal Caribbean from 2005 to 2006; P&O Cruises from 2006 to 2009; and DFDS Seaways (a ferry line) from 2009 to 2010.

Although Mr. Ellis was the "subject of a community order and a sexual offences prevention order," after his 2010 convictions, MSC Cruises hired him after he served his jail sentence.  It’s a pity that MSC doesn’t have adequate vetting procedures to screen a pervert like this from its cruise ships.

You can read about the problem of child porn on cruise ships below:

Perverts, Child Predators and Cruise Ships

Celebrity Cruises Crew Member Arrested on Child Porn Charges

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Photo Credit: Musicians Page