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| Child porn headmaster sentenced | Child porn headmaster sentenced |
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| A former East Lothian headmaster who admitted possessing child pornography has been ordered to perform 150 hours of community service. | A former East Lothian headmaster who admitted possessing child pornography has been ordered to perform 150 hours of community service. |
| Andrew Melville, 48, who earlier pleaded guilty, was also placed on probation for three years. | Andrew Melville, 48, who earlier pleaded guilty, was also placed on probation for three years. |
| He left his job at Whitecraig Primary School in Musselburgh after police searched his Gullane home in March. | He left his job at Whitecraig Primary School in Musselburgh after police searched his Gullane home in March. |
| They found 457 indecent images of children, a dozen of which were at the more serious end of the spectrum. | They found 457 indecent images of children, a dozen of which were at the more serious end of the spectrum. |
| Melville was told by Sheriff Alistair Noble, sitting in Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday, the sentence was appropriate in view of his exemplary service as a teacher, the impact on his family and the fact that a relatively small number of images were involved, and a very small number at the highest levels of pornography. | |
| In my line of work this is a 'no' 'no' Andrew Melville The Sheriff, who spent three minutes looking at images provided by a police officer, told Melville that instead of a relatively short period of custody, a better approach was to place him on probation with special conditions. | |
| The special conditions were that he take part in the Community Intervention Group for sex offenders, have no access to a computer without the approval of his supervising officer, any media equipment he had had to be approved by his supervising officer, no employment without approval by his supervising officer, no contact with children under the age of 16 without approval, and having to reside in accommodation approved by his supervising officer. | |
| Melville had previously admitted being in possession of and distributing indecent photographs of children between June 2004 and May 2005. | |
| Sentence had been deferred for background reports on Melville, a married man with three teenage children, and to allow the sheriff to look at the pictures. | |
| Lothian and Borders Police were contacted in March of last year by colleagues in the West Midlands that Melville, at that time head teacher at Whitecraig Primary School in Musselburgh, might have indecent images on a computer. | |
| When they searched his home, officers asked him if there was anything illegal on the computers they found. | |
| He told them: "Just the usual porn, adult porn". Asked if there was anything else, he replied: "Maybe. About four years ago I was given some child images which I deleted. In my line of work this is a 'no' 'no'." | |
| Melville, who was appointed head teacher at Whitecraig in 2007, was suspended by East Lothian Council when the police investigations began and in July of last year he was sacked, bringing to an end a 22-year long teaching career. |