EX-POLICE BLAMES ILLEGAL FILM DOWNLOADS FOR CHILD ABUSE PICS
A former police officer from Ayrshire, who denies possessing child abuse images, attributed the discovery of such upsetting material on his computer to downloading movies from the dark web.Barry Sommerville explained that the presence of extra files when obtaining films unlawfully could have led to these allegations.
He provided his testimony at Ayr Sheriff Court on Friday, May 29, after entering a plea of not guilty to two charges.
The 52-year-old is accused of taking, enabling others to take, or creating indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children between November 22, 2017, and February 29, 2024.
He also faces a second charge of allegedly owning these images at his residence on Clune Drive, Prestwick, during the same period.
The Crown's case concluded on Friday following evidence from a forensic computer analyst from Police Scotland's cyber crime unit, who revealed that recovered images included the most severe category of child abuse, classified as category A.
Jurors were informed that the websites accessed via the dark web and TOR browser included pages related to "Hebophile" and "teen chat," with some files bearing names such as "Lolita," "sweethearts," "virgin," "spycam," and "bathroom creepers." In his defense, Sommerville stated he was a retired police officer, asserting, “I had nothing to hide and no knowledge [of the content], if I had, I would have hired a solicitor and said no comment." When questioned about awareness of “child sexual exploitation abuse material,” he responded, “Absolutely not” and “Never, absolutely never.” Regarding approximately 4,000 pieces of erotic and sexual fantasy literature, he said, “I did not know that was there.” Sommerville explained that he, his wife, and son all had access to the devices, which contained hard drives filled with “photographs of wildlife, landscapes, all sorts” as well as “music and movies.” He added, “I used Pirate Bay, but those sites started to be shut down.
Unfortunately, we live in a society where pornography is available on the internet—adult content, not anything involving children.
When you download a movie, other files come along, but I don’t look at them and never have.
I get my movie and then delete the rest.” Earlier that day, a cyber crime analyst testified that “some files we did not recover but contained terms associated with child abuse,” such as “Lolita,” a reference to a book and film involving the abuse of a child.
Under cross-examination by defense lawyer Allan Macleod, the analyst stated he “absolutely cannot” confirm whether the person operating the Barry Sommerville accounts was definitely the accused.
The case continues before Sheriff Siobhan Connelly.
