GRAHAM WARREN FROM BLYTH SENTENCED FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY IN NEWCASTLE

In November 1996, Graham Warren, a 34-year-old statistician residing in Blyth, Northumberland, was convicted of possessing indecent images of children. His criminal activities came to light after a vigilant systems programmer at Newcastle University uncovered suspicious activity involving Warren's access to the university's computer network.

Warren had been granted weekly access to the university's computer systems through his employment as a statistician at a research facility located in Whitehaven, Cumbria. During a routine check in September 1995, the systems programmer noticed that several unusual files had been transferred from the internet to Warren's computer. Further investigation revealed that these files could be traced directly back to Warren's computer, raising suspicion of illicit activity.

Specifically, the programmer discovered that on one occasion, 17 files containing explicit images had been transferred. These files included highly disturbing content, such as photographs depicting sexual acts involving children, as well as scenes of oral sex between children and adults, and images of boys engaged in homosexual acts. The police were promptly contacted after these findings.

Prosecutor Tony Glover informed the magistrates in Newcastle upon Tyne that Warren had downloaded a collection of approximately 100 pornographic images, which he had stored on floppy disks at Newcastle University before transferring them onto his personal laptop. The images were of a highly disturbing nature, involving full and oral sex between children and adults, and included scenes of boys involved in homosexual acts.

Warren, who was married and a father of two children, admitted to possessing 10 specific indecent photographs of children. His actions were considered serious violations, and he faced charges related to the possession of these illegal images.

During the court proceedings, Mark Saunders, representing Warren, stated that his client had lost his job and was suffering significant embarrassment since his secret activities had been exposed. Saunders emphasized that Warren was not involved in distributing or sharing the images, asserting that he had not passed the material on to anyone else.

On November 27, 1996, the Newcastle upon Tyne Magistrates sentenced Warren to a fine of £1,000 and ordered him to pay £300 in costs. The court's decision reflected the gravity of his offenses and the disturbing nature of the material involved.