‘Loner’ caught with child porn ‘had been duped out of £30k’
Thursday, 30 June 2016
THE former Head of Environmental Services at Antrim Borough Council has been sentenced to three years’ probation for possession of child porn.
John Trevor Stewart faced 21 charges of making indecent photographs and 18 of possession of indecent images after he was observed by work colleagues accessing the images during working hours.
In a report submitted to the Judge a doctor explained that the 62-year-old ‘loner’ had fallen victim to a scam in work where he lost £30,000.
Source Antrim Guardian
Ex-Antrim council boss Stewart who looked at child abuse images in open-plan office ‘a loner’ April 2016
A judge has called for medical reports on a council chief dismissed from his post after being caught looking at child sexual abuse images on his office computer in his open-plan office
Judge Desmond Marrinan told the former environmental health chief John Trevor Stewart that given the prospect of his possible imprisonment, “you should not face the decision of the court without that evidence being in place”.
The Antrim Crown Court judge said it was a difficult case in which he was told Stewart felt “driven by urges” to look at such sites, and in the circumstances he would prefer having professional reports on him and his family before sentence.
Stewart, the former head of Environment Services with Antrim Borough Council, from Grannystown Road in Portglenone, will be sentenced in June on a total of 39 charges involving more than 9,000 images of child sex abuse.
The offences, committed over a six-year period from September 2007 until August 2013, include
- 21 charges of making indecent photos
- 15 of possessing them
- 3 of having prohibited images of a child.
Prosecution lawyer George Chisney revealed 62-year-old Stewart was dismissed after two women in the open-plan office reported him to their line manager after spotting him looking at child sexual abuse sites on his work computer.
Read in full UK Database
EHO charged over indecent child images 11/02/2015
Trevor John Stewart, who worked at Antrim Borough Council, appeared in Antrim magistrates court this week and was charged with making and possessing indecent photographs of children between 2 December 2009 and 28 August 2013.
Mr Stewart, of Grannystown Road, Portlgenone, confirmed he understood the three charges against him.
He was released on bail but district judge Alan White barred him from entering the offices of Antrim Borough Council or contacting any council employee.
Defence lawyer Neil Moore said there was no doubt the case would end up in the Crown Court.
The case will return to court on 10 March. SOURCE