ALAN CATTELL OF RADSTOCK SENTENCED IN BRISTOL FOR CHILD PORN OFFENSES

In March 2005, Alan Cattell, a 41-year-old former scout leader from Radstock, Somerset, was sentenced to eight months in prison after police discovered over 1,000 child pornography images on his computer. Cattell, who had also worked as an assistant supermarket manager, had previously pleaded guilty to 17 charges of making indecent photographs of a child during an earlier court hearing.

The court was told that Cattell’s illegal activities were uncovered after investigators traced his credit card details to child pornographic websites. Police executed a search warrant at his residence on August 17 of the previous year, uncovering more than 1,000 images stored on his computer's hard drive.

Prosecutor Kristy Real explained that some of the images were classified as category four, which is the second most severe level, but the majority fell into category one. Defense counsel Ferguson Currie offered mitigation, stating that Cattell had begun viewing these websites in 2003, during a period when he was experiencing depression due to his mother’s admission to a nursing home for Alzheimer’s treatment.

During the sentencing at Bristol Crown Court, Judge John Foley emphasized the gravity of such cases, remarking, "The seriousness of this sort of case is that the more people like you who behave like you behaved, means that there are more children that are abused on the other side of the camera."

Cattell was sentenced to a total of eight months in prison for the category four images, six months for the category three images, three months for the category two images, and an additional three months for the category one images. All sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Furthermore, he was given an indefinite ban from working with children.