Trevor Buchan escapes jail over child porn
A milkman from Bath who admitted he had a sexual interest in children after he was caught with hundreds of indecent pictures at his home was today described by a judge as one of the "vilest perverts" he had seen for a long time.
Trevor Buchan, who had previous convictions for committing acts of gross indecency with a child, said he was turned on by children aged seven and over.
His continued perversion came to light when authorities in the United States told British police the defendant may have been buying indecent movies and pictures of children from the internet.
When police swooped on the 50-year-old's former home in Fox Hill, they seized a photo album, DVDs, papers and computer hardware containing 602 indecent images of children aged three to their early teens.
Buchan, who now lives in Sedgemoor Road, Foxhill, later pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing indecent images of a child and one charge of making indecent photos or pseudo photos of a child.
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He was told he could have been given a sentence for public protection, of life in prison, by Judge Julian Lambert at Bristol Crown Court.
But instead he was given a three-year community order so that he can attend a sex offender programme for treatment.
He will be supervised by the Probation Service for three years and will be on the Sex Offenders' Register for the next five years.
Buchan was also disqualified from working with children for life and subjected to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order stopping him from coming into contact with children under 16.
Richard Posner, prosecuting, said police seized 602 indecent images from the Fox Hill home on September 2 last year after information was received from US authorities that the defendant may have been buying indecent images of children from the internet.
He said the defendant was arrested and taken to Bath Police Station while officers carried away a wedding album containing indecent pictures of children, a computer hard drive and tower, DVDs and printed sheets of paper.
Mr Posner told the court: "With regards to the age of the children they appear to be as young as three and no older than early teens.
"There were a number of naturist magazines recovered not exclusively of pre-pubescent children.
"The images in the wedding album he (Buchan) described as 'things of beauty' and said he had nowhere else to put them.
"Images in a briefcase he also described as 'things of beauty'.
"The defendant was candid in his admissions that he had a sexual interest in children and said he would not go after them.
"He said children of age seven and over turned him on."
He said the defendant had previous convictions dating back to his youth for dishonesty and was dealt with for indecent exposure in 1974.
In March 1999 he was jailed for 27 months for three offences of gross indecency with a child in the 1980s.
The court also heard that the latest police investigation revealed Buchan had been sponsoring the education of two young girls in Guatemala and was receiving photographs and letters from them.
Jennifer Tallentire, defending, said her client had been released from his 27-month prison sentence in 2000 and shortly afterwards was divorced from his wife and had lived a solitary life since.
She said he started looking at indecent images of children on his computer in 2007 and was frank with police about what he had done.
Sentencing Buchan, Judge Julian Lambert said: "I have considered very carefully this morning whether or not it was my duty to imprison you for public protection. That's a euphemism for life in prison.
"You pose a risk to young people and I'm very, very anxious about you. I do however consider that your risk can be managed by the Probation Service and police and that risk can be contained in the community by you completing the Thames Valley Sex Offender Programme.
"You are one of the vilest perverts I have had the misfortune to see in a very long time. Sadly the previous custodial sentence did not treat the root cause of your perversion and distorted thinking.
"Looking at images of little tiny children being seriously abused is a serious act of abuse itself because if those with your perverted thinking did not view those images it would not cause their production.
"The programme you will take will cause you to see just how wicked your viewing of those images is."
This is Bath