ANDREW LOWE SENTENCED IN STRONGHOLD, DIDSBURY FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

In February 2003, Andrew Lowe, a 40-year-old Catholic priest from Stroud, was sentenced to six months in jail after being found guilty of downloading indecent images of children from the internet. Lowe was arrested during an international operation aimed at tracking individuals who accessed disturbing images of naked minors on US-based websites.

Lowe, who previously served as the parish priest of St Catherine's Roman Catholic Church in Didsbury, will also be registered as a sex offender for the next ten years. During his court appearance at Ilkeston Magistrates Court in Derbyshire, he pleaded guilty to five counts of creating indecent photographs of children using a computer and CD.

In his interview, Lowe claimed that he accessed the material out of curiosity but later admitted that he had used his credit card to visit the sites. He had also made copies of some photographs, including images of boys aged between 13 and 15, some of whom were naked.

Prosecutor Joanne Reynolds explained that Lowe made internet connections while at a friend's house in Derbyshire between September and October of the previous year. This activity was later linked to the international police operation known as Operation Ore, a global effort to combat internet-based sex crimes.

Defence solicitor James Hawkes stated that Lowe had been a clergyman for 20 years and expressed that his client was now deeply aware of the shame his actions had brought upon himself and the Catholic Church. "There is not only public humiliation," Hawkes added, "but also the personal humiliation of having to explain to his mother, father, and brothers."

At the time of his arrest, Lowe was residing in a hostel and had been suspended from his clerical duties since May of the previous year, performing no priestly functions since then.