RE Stupid Reporting. You aren't in possession of the facts...

I've just spent a few minutes trawling the online archives of the "Evesham Journal", as I recalled an Operation Ore case reported in it that disturbed me at the time (2004). I quote from the last of several articles about the case;

"Michael Aspinall, defending, said there was no suggestion in *****ley's case that pictures of the worst kind had been downloaded.

*****ley, of *******ley Road, ******ter, had denied inciting the distribution or showing of indecent pictures of children in 1999.

He was arrested after Operation Ore which was a crackdown on people who had accessed child porn sites in America. *****ley's name, address and credit card details were discovered.

A check on his credit card statements showed that two bills from the agency which collected the porn site payments had been paid.

*****ley told the jury that he had paid these without enquiring what they were. He alleged that his personal details could have been put into the porn site system by someone else.

But prosecutor Joanathon Gosling said it was impossible to access the sites by accident and there was always acknowledgment sent to the person logging on.

*****ley changed his laptop computer in 2000 and no images were found on the hard drive or on three other computers at his home."

That's *no images*. The entire evidence, as reported, was two low-value transactions on a pair of credit cards which went unchallenged. If you search for the articles you'll find more, including a Constable pretending technical knowlege in court...

Now, in balance, I have to say that the same period reveals some reports that look much more like clear guilt, and others that are more troubling and ambiguous, but to say that all those found guilty (or especially "accepting a caution") were in possession of child porn is just plain wrong.

Neil

PS If it isn't clear, I've lightly anonymised this posting, apart from the apparently feeble-minded defence lawyer's name. Your client hadn't downloaded *anything* you drip...