FORMER QUEEN'S CHAPLAIN AVOIDS JAIL OVER INDECENT IMAGES
A FORMER chaplain to the late Queen Elizabeth who admitted sexually communicating with a person posing as a 14-year-old boy has dodged a jail sentence at Jedburgh Sheriff Court.Seventy-year-old Andrew Deuchar pleaded guilty to sending indecent images of himself and a video of a sexual nature on the Kik messaging site to who he thought was an underage youngster called Jason and living in Ireland.
But it was in fact an adult decoy belonging to an anti-paedophile vigilante group who he was exchanging messages with.
Members of the group turned up at Deuchar’s home in Main Street, Chirnside, on May 30, where they live-streamed the confrontation, with Deuchar telling them: “I made a mistake, I realise that.” Alasdair Fay, prosecuting, told a previous hearing at Jedburgh Sheriff Court: “The matter was reported to the police.
During his interview the accused said, ‘I am sorry.
It was a mistake’.
It only happened once.
The ‘boy’ had taken the lead and had been the instigator of some things.” Mr Fay said that during the message exchange the man posing as the child said he was just 14 years old.
Sentence had previously been deferred for background reports.
Defense lawyer Keith Tuck said the criminal justice social work report was a “positive one”.
He continued: “It seems quite clear that the events have given him a great deal of time for reflection.
He deeply regrets his involvement in such matters and is now on a path to considering the underlying reasons for it.
It is a serious matter and he understands that.” Sheriff Peter Paterson said he was prepared to follow the recommendations laid out in the background reports.
Deuchar was given a two-year community payback order with supervision and made subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act for a similar period.
He was appointed a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 when he was a Church of England parish priest in Nottinghamshire.
But he resigned the post in 2008.
Deuchar then moved to the Borders and became director of Berwick Literary Festival.
But after his arrest for indecent online communications became known in the summer, Deuchar was dismissed from the unpaid role by the book festival’s chairman of trustees.
