Killearn man gets community payback order for watching child porn

A civil servant with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority who watched child porn to de-stress was spared jail today (Wednesday, May 4).

Craig Burke (37) was found with 11 “very graphic” pornographic videos of children when police raided his home near Glasgow.

A court heard that Police Scotland’s cyber crime unit had received intelligence that an internet connection at the property in Killearn, west Stirlingshire, was being used to access child porn.

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Officers executing a search warrant raided the address, where unmarried Burke lives alone with his aged parents, at five to seven in the morning.

Burke, part of whose job involved interviewing victims of child abuse to determine how much compensation they should get, answered the door.

Prosecutor Adrian Fraser said: “He opened the door and told the police he knew why they were there.”

He showed them a laptop in his bedroom, which was examined and the pornographic videos, together with some still pictures, were found on it.

Mr Fraser said: “The videos were very graphic.”

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At Stirling Sheriff Court, Burke, of Wellgreen, Killearn, pleaded guilty to possessing and downloading child porn. The raid took place on June 6th last year (2015).

David Fitzatrick, defending, said Burke, a loner who had difficulty “coping”, was immediately signed off work with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and had not worked there since.

The court heard that Burke had continued to use porn “as a coping mechanism” even after the commencement of the court case against him.

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson made Burke subject to a three year community payback order, during which time he will have to take part in the “Making Changes, Moving Forward” sex offender treatment programme.

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He was also banned, for the same period, from having contact with anyone under 17 with the permission of his supervising officer, and ordered that any equipment he uses to access the internet must be fitted with a programme that will check what he has been accessing.

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