A Met sergeant whose computer contained 110 indecent images of children was spared jail today.WTF?
Judge John Price said: "This was real children being abused, they were not cartoon figures, they were real children being abused by adults."Not sure why you feel the need to draw a distinction, since even the former is now punishable, ludicrous as that may be…
Still, maybe collecting sick filth is all he did?
Ah. No:
Sgt Antony Vodden, 46, was investigated after he contacted a female undercover detective from Australia via a chat room used by paedophiles.Lovely!
Jurors at Southwark crown court heard how he sent obscene message to the officer, including claims he had molested children aged 10 and 15.
Maybe the Met should hang onto him, in case they ever need another agent provocateur?
So, what’s his excuse? You know there’s going to be one, don’t you? No way he’s going to try the ‘It’s a fair cop!’ line…
Defence counsel Guy Ladenburg said Vodden had been off work with a broken ankle at the time. "There was a trauma buried very deeply in his past that was surfacing," he said.Broken ankles cause sexual perversion, do they? Well, at least he didn’t try the old ‘I don’t know how it got there!’ excu…
Oh:
Vodden claimed the images had been "sent to his computer by some sort of accident"./facepalm
He was given a nine-month sentence suspended for 15 months.The report doesn’t mention it, but he must have been kicked out of the force, surely?
22 comments:
The Sun report says he has already been dismissed.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3727173/Shamed-cop-Sgt-Antony-Vodden-walks-free-over-kid-porn.html
BTW, it also notes that Jason Owen nee Barker is about to be released and Sharon Shoeface is about to receive com-pen-say-shun.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3729798/One-of-the-evil-trio-jailed-over-Baby-Ps-death-will-walk-free-on-Friday.html
This seems to be a little bit of a re-ermerging trend at present - not only have the #s 1&2 in the Met gone, but there's a breaking tale somewhere about another force feeling the collars of #s1,2,& 3 of another force having their collars felt.
Goodness! Where will it all end? Perhaps they should introduce polygraphs - they do apparently work...
scum
in uniform
op ore info should be made public
FOI. request anyone?
Broken ankle - like it. And he assumed the excuse would be accepted?
"Defence counsel Guy Ladenburg said Vodden, who had been abused as a child, was off work with a broken ankle at the time of the offences" ...
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2021407/Policeman-disgusting-child-porn-sting-operation-walks-free-court.html#ixzz1Tz6pO8Pp
You'll be lucky, Gallovidian.
One interesting point is that other erm, senior law officials, have been covered by injunctions so we don't know if, or when, they have been prosecuted. Or if the injunctions have lapsed.
I'd be shouting more about this but there is a chance that rather than face-saving, the aim is to make it possible to conduct further investigations. However, believing that takes a measure of faith which I cannot confidently recommend to anyone else.
In the meantime, there's this one from Nottingham (although it is a website for Wales). Always remembering that accusation is not the same as conviction.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/2011/07/31/policeman-charged-with-sex-offences-91466-29151217/
To the twisted mind, the broken ankle excuse may appear to provide solid support.
And only the other day, WPC Jaded was obliged to remind citizens that there was indeed a bad apple somewhere in the police. How joyous we should be that the removal of this stain heralds a new era of public confidence in police.
Oh wait....they have just arrested Cleveland's Chief Constable and his entourage. Cleaners are now working their way down until one unspoiled uniform can be found.
I would like to think this Chief Constable will be philosophical. Someone has to appear on the first shovel of sludge when it is lifted from a large, churning pile.
Ah there he is as expected.Well done MTG-like a shark sniffing blood in the water he swoops on a story that denigrates the police.
However,whatever happens to this criminal in uniform he deserves.I would never support anyone like this.
PC-yes really-Jaded
...a story that denigrates the police...
Well you'd have to admit that one's a bit spoilt for choice if one likes that kind of thing.
Hello Mick,can't argue that point much at the moment. However MTG revels in it.I wonder if he has any other life.
Jaded
If not sacked, at least moved away from the child protection unit I would have thought...
Excellent comment above....however the best gamekeepers are ex-poachers.
Jaded
@ PC Jaded
Far be it from me to suggest your presence on this blog causes a stir but might you be the sort who gatecrashes a Negro history convention in a white pointy hat?
Not sure what the above poster means.Are my views so extreme? I don't think they are as I consider myself a reasonable man.
Is this blog only welcoming anti-police comments?
Jaded
"I consider myself a reasonable man."
No you're a ,supposedly, a police officer. Check your attestation, ain't no mention of 'reason'. Infact it is pretty much the antithesis of 'reason'. You gave up that right inorder to be better able to serve the crown ie you're a 'servant' not a free moral agent.
I for one welcome Jaded's contributions.
Those who don't already know it should visit Inspector Gadget's blog where non-coppers' even mildly negative postings provoke a furore from the often dim and incoherent mostly police contributors to the debates on that site.
The top ranks of the Police seem to have become an overly-politicised cohort of target-driven nest-featherers while the lowlier plods (who, let's be honest have always had some unpleasant bullies in their midst)are hopelessly mismanaged, are no longer allowed to exercise a modicum of judgement or common sense and see the courts only slap the wrists of the "real criminals" that they do nick.
So leave Jaded alone, say I, let him promote a contrasting view and encourage him to get the Police Federation to explore why it is that its members no longer enjoy the support of the largely law-abiding majority of people.
"The Sun report says he has already been dismissed."
Ah, excellent!
"This seems to be a little bit of a re-ermerging trend at present.."
It does, doesn't it? Are a few old scores being settled in the wake of a change of government, perhaps?
"And he assumed the excuse would be accepted?"
Well, he'd probably heard stranger ones get accepted while in court...
"One interesting point is that other erm, senior law officials, have been covered by injunctions so we don't know if, or when, they have been prosecuted. "
Good point!
"Is this blog only welcoming anti-police comments?"
This blog welcomes all comments ...
"...it is pretty much the antithesis of 'reason'. You gave up that right inorder to be better able to serve the crown ie you're a 'servant' not a free moral agent."
Do the police have to adhere to the Civil Service Code, I wonder? It's pretty strict...
"...and encourage him to get the Police Federation to explore why it is that its members no longer enjoy the support of the largely law-abiding majority of people."
Now, that's a phrase that truly lights the blue touchpaper over at Gadget's! :)
Dear Mick Turation,
Tolerance of criticism and contrary opinion defines superior human qualities and civility. We have something in common in our detestation of censorship.
From their bases in the UK, on-duty police run anonymous blogs which masquerade as public forums. Gadget runs a blog well known for removing adverse comments. The blog will also alter citizen comments prior to publication. Comments written in 'pig' English which Gadget falsely attributed to myself, have appeared there. To the universal shame of police, it is common knowledge that evidence is often fabricated. This issue is of great concern to every citizen unable to place any reliance on mutual honesty.
Jaded represents the indoctrinated police view 'anyone critical of police must be a police hater.'
Such indoctrinated nonsense is no basis for any constraint on her views, it simply devalues them.
Let us rise above the methods of police bloggers and set an example to them by encouraging Jaded and her kind in finding something new to add to their core messages.
Suspiciously small number of images, that.
I'm sorry, I appreciate that I'm in danger of being accused of being soft on nonces, but I just think there's something funny going on. We never know what precisely these images are, because nobody- not even journalists, if they were interested- are allowed to see them. Are these pictures of five year olds being buggered, or pictures of indeterminate provenance that look underage? Sixteen year olds?
Porn collectors collect scads of images. I should know, I am one, or was; when I first got on the net I downloaded everything until the thrill of evading the BBFC wore off. There are sodding thousands and thousands of pics of top shelf ladies on my drive as a result, been there for years. (NB; any policemen reading this; unless you want to look at a lot of scans from Razzle and 1970s handlebar moustache and jazz fusion porn, you'll find my collection rather disappointing).
And yet these paedophiles have, like, 100? It doesn't add up; and not just this aspect of it, the whole thing. There is no doubt that there are real people who would and do prey on children, and severe punishment is of course necessary. But I think there's a whole story that just isn't getting told, behind the veil of secrecy.
The funny thing is whether or not the public like me I still get paid.
You cannot read a few posters like MTG/SBC and EV and assume we do not have great support from the decent public.The squeaky wheel gets the grease remember?
Using clever long words does not automatically make you right Melvin.
Mick however makes some good points.Public feeling is a difficult thing to measure.
Jaded
@ Jaded
"Using clever long words does not automatically make you right Melvin."
I never intentionally parade the range to my vocabulary, Jaded. Occasions when I have resorted to French or Latin, arose through deficiences in English or the absence of an English equivalent.
Educated readers of this blog may reason that my choice of words and phrases is motivated entirely by economy. If so, they will be inclined to reject your derogatory implication of a vaunting or ostentatious style which has been used to intimidate you.
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