Ribble Valley deputy head resigns over child porn shame

Arthur Ian Lawson’s name was given to Lancashire police after a national investigation by the CEOP child protection agency.

Officers seized two computers from his home in Barnacre Road, Longridge, and found the indecent images of children.

They also discovered Lawson had been searching the internet with suggestive phrases including the words schoolboys and spanking.

A large number of the images were in a school setting, including a gym and changing room.

One picture fell into the most series category of level five, another was in level four and the remaining 146 were in the lowest ranking, level one.

Police said none of the children in the images were from Clitheroe Grammar.

Lawson told officers he viewed the pictures ‘out of curiosity, not a sexual interest’.

At Preston Crown Court yesterday Lawson, 49, admitted eight counts of possessing indecent images of children.

Judge Jonathan Gibson sentenced him to a three-year community supervision order.

Lawson was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for five years and given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

He was ordered to pay £1,500 costs.

Lawson had worked for the school since September 2007 and his responsibilities included ‘safeguarding’, relating to child protection and use of data.

He had no previous convictions and passed a full Criminal Records Bureau check before being appointed.

After the case, a spokesperson for Clitheroe Grammar said: "When the allegations came to light in March 2010, Mr Lawson was suspended from school with immediate effect.

"We have been reassured by the police that none of the charges relate to any students at our school.

"Mr Lawson will not be returning to our school."

Detective Constable Carol Ragen said Lawson had abused his position of trust.

She said: “Although none of the children from the school where he taught were sexually abused, his actions and subsequent arrest must have put parents through unnecessary anguish nonetheless.”

Detective Inspector Claire Holbrook said the images viewed by Lawson represented the ‘physical abuse of a child somewhere in the world’.

She added: “Anyone who views, downloads or sends such images indirectly funds and encourages child abuse worldwide.

“We will continue to do all we can to protect the most vulnerable in our society and to target and put people who engage in this sort of activity before the courts.”

Lawson was caught after a wider investigation into a national website flagged up his activities.

Lancashire police officers were notified and seized two computers from his home.

He was later arrested after specialist software retrieved the deleted images.

Officers initially visited his home on March 29 but his wife told police that he was at Edisford Bridge Gym where they went to take him into custody.

Prosecutor Kath Johnson told the court that Lawson made admissions in police interview.

She said: “After a break and consultation with his solicitor he resumed the interview by saying he had viewed images of children in underwear or naked.

"He said he did it out of curiosity, not out of sexual interest.”

“At home there were an amount of images of young adults and child porn.

"A large number of the images were set in a school setting: gym and changing room scenarios.”

Lawson is married. He has no biological children but has three adult step children and two step grandchildren.

He was accompanied by his sister at court.

Richard Simmons, defending, said Lawson had ‘tendered his resignation’ from the school.

He told the court: “There has never been any suggestion that he acted inappropriately towards any child in his care.

“He dedicated his life to his profession.

“He has lost his job, career and lost the product of his life-long endeavour.

“He has already suffered and he will continue to suffer and have the great shame this has caused him.”

Under the sentence imposed by Judge Gibson, Lawson cannot buy, lease or rent a computer, mobile phone or similar device without informing police officers.

If he now uses the internet he must produce a record of every item he has searched.