Ex-PCSO did not realise extreme porn was illegal
A POLICE Community Support Officer downloaded extreme porn because he “didn’t understand it to be illegal”.
Lincoln Crown Court heard how Alan Rosser, who worked as a PCSO in Caistor, had watched a documentary on TV about people having sexual relationships with animals and “out of curiosity” wanted to find out more about it.
Rosser, 61, watched 60 extreme porn videos and when his computer was seized by police they discovered 12 movie clips that could still be watched and 4,988 images that had been “automatically stored” by his browser.
Defending, Stephen Grattage said Rosser “did not appreciate” this was a criminal offence and accepted there was an “error” on his part.
Mr Grattage said Rosser was so shocked at the charges he was kept in custody “for his own safety”.
He said: “Mr Rosser assures the court that he now understands the position in relation to the law and will not cross that line again.”
A reverend and a former police officer turned up to court to support Rosser and provided statements saying he was an upstanding member of the community.
Sentencing, Judge Heath said a police officer who Rosser worked with between 2003 and 2009, described the defendant as “professional”, “well-liked by the public” and as having a “good sense of humour”.
Judge Heath said at the time Rosser viewed the material he “didn’t understand it to be illegal to do so”.
Rosser’s computer was seized during a raid at his home in Lincoln on December 14, 2010 – he resigned from his job in March this year, shortly after being charged.
Rosser pleaded guilty to six counts of possessing extreme pornography and was given a community order with a 36-month supervision requirement and three-month curfew.
He also has to complete a community sex offender group programme.
Rosser had been charged with two further extreme porn offences and six charges of having indecent images of children but the court heard how no evidence had been offered in relation to these allegations.
Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Dave Evison of the Professional Standards Department said: “It is always disappointing when a member of staff breaks the law or falls below the high standards of conduct that the force demands of all our employees.
“The investigation into Mr Rosser should serve as a warning to other persons within our organisation that we will investigate and prosecute offenders like him.
“Hopefully this robust policy will offer some reassurance to the public that the force fully intends to seek out wrong doers and to rightly uphold the high standards expected of us.”
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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