Porn case judge pleads guilty

A CIRCUIT court judge in Britain who stepped down after he was arrested earlier this month, admitted yesterday to making and possessing dozens of pornographic images of children.

David Selwood, 69, who stepped down as resident judge of Portsmouth Crown Court earlier this month, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of making indecent photos of a child.

At the hearing in London’s Bow Street Magistrates Court, he also admitted one count of possessing indecent photographs of children.

Sentencing, which will take place in the same court, was adjourned for reports. In total, Selwood admitted making or possessing 75 indecent images.

Selwood, from Winchester, Hampshire, then sat down while the prosecution lawyer Amanda Sawetz gave details of his crimes.

She said that on April 21 Selwood was in possession of 63 indecent photographs of boys aged between eight and 14.

The court heard that Selwood had issued a prepared statement to police, in which he maintained he had never had any sexual interest in young children.

“He gave as the reason for visiting such sites curiosity to see how easy or difficult it was for someone with limited computer skills such as himself to find such images,” she said.

But, in the statement, Selwood admitted it would be difficult to describe his actions as “research”.

He had said: “I can see objectively now how foolish this may appear but there must be things going on in the subconscious mind which I need to look at.”

Selwood was immediately placed on the sex offenders register and bailed to return for sentencing.

Earlier this year, Selwood cleared a world authority on child abuse who pleaded guilty to downloading child pornography of having any illegal intent.

The judge described Professor Christopher Bagley, who has written several respected pieces of research into child abuse, as “naive” for accessing the indecent images without seeking legal advice.

He ruled that Bagley had viewed the images for research purposes and not for his own sexual needs.