Former Police Chief Faces Jail over Child Porn
Date: November 24, 2004Source: Scotsman.com
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David Bruce, 44, who has now quit his job, was told that a prison sentence was a “racing certainty” after he pleaded guilty to 16 specimen charges of making indecent photographs of a child and one of possession.
Bruce’s lawyer told Milton Keynes Magistrates Court that his client was an alcoholic who has attempted suicide three times in the last couple of months and was receiving treatment for a psychiatric illness.
The court heard that Thames Valley Police raided his home in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, in July this year after receiving information on the use of credit cards to pay for internet pornography.
Officers seized items of Bruce’s computer equipment and he later admitted he had “strayed” into child sites after viewing adult ones, prosecutor Tristan Driscoll said.
Bruce told officers he had viewed the sites after he had been drinking.
Mr Driscoll added that one of the images over which Bruce was charged was rated at Level 5, the most graphic type on the scale.
He deleted images after looking at them but they remained on his computer, although he had saved some video clips, the court heard.
Defending, Ian Lewis said Bruce had been diagnosed with a psychiatric illness in 1990 and that his problems stemmed from his adolescence.
He requested that sentencing be adjourned pending psychiatric and other reports likely to include one from the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police.
Mr Lewis added that Bruce had co-operated fully with the investigation.
Wearing a grey suit and tie, Bruce spoke only to confirm his name and enter his guilty plea at the hearing.
District Judge Brian Loosley told him that some of the girls involved in the images were “very young indeed” and warned him that his offences were serious ones which were likely to result in a jail sentence.
“It’s almost inevitable, I think a certainty, that you will go to prison,” he said.
The judge added that Bruce would be sentenced either at the magistrates or crown court and released him on unconditional bail ahead of a hearing at Milton Keynes Magistrates Court on December 7.
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