LAWYER COMPARES CHILD PORN TO 'TRAINSPOTTING'

Scotsman, UK: 12 April 2006
http://news.scotsman.com/inverness.cfm?id=558302006

A LAWYER representing a man jailed yesterday for possession child porn
has been condemned after he likened the offence to "trainspotting".

Computer engineer Colin Wilson, 39, of Elgin was jailed yesterday
after being caught with more than 23,000 images of child porn on his
PC - including images of rapes.

Defence lawyer Marc Dickson claimed his client became interested in
porn during the break-up of his marriage.

He said: "Initially it was adult orientated, but it progressed to him
downloading images of a paedophilic nature.

"He worked as a computer engineer and he explained that when one works
with computers one develops a mechanism of storing information in file
structure. It becomes second nature.

"It is almost akin to trainspotting.

But Jan McClory, Assistant Director of Children 1st, said yesterday :
"This is a shocking, ridiculous and unforgivable comparison."

Sheriff Charles McNair said Wilson's offences were "not a victimless
crime" as children were being abused to feed the demands paedophiles
such as Wilson.

He was yesterday jailed for two years at Inverness Sheriff Court,
placed on licence for a further 18 months and ordered to be on the sex
offenders register indefinitely.