JULIAN MINEUR IN LOCKERBIE SPARED JAIL AFTER CHILD ABUSE IMAGE CASE

In December 2014, Julian Mineur was residing on Prince’s Street in Lockerbie. Previously, in March 2014, a court case revealed that Mineur, a 59-year-old man from Common Edge Road, Blackpool, had been caught with images of child sexual abuse on his computer. Despite the disturbing nature of the images, he was not sentenced to prison but received a three-year community order and was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.

Mineur was convicted in January at Preston Crown Court of making and possessing indecent images of children. He had been elected as a Conservative councillor for Greenlands Ward in 2007 but lost his seat in 2011.

The court was told that police discovered indecent images of children on his computer following searches at two addresses—one on Sackville Avenue, Blackpool, in December 2010, and another on Common Edge Road in August 2011. The images included those classified as level five, which is the most serious category.

Brett Gerrity, a senior crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service North West, stated: "Since his first court appearance in July 2012, Julian Mineur continuously denied that he had ever knowingly viewed or downloaded indecent images of children. As a result of his evasive actions, and at an increased cost to the public purse, several computer expert reports were completed which provided overwhelming evidence to show that he had indeed accessed such images on a number of computers that belonged to him."

Mineur was ordered to pay £1,000 in costs. Though he was elected as a Conservative in 2007, he was later deselected by the party and ran the 2011 election as an independent candidate.