Village support for child porn offender Aston Dalzell Piper

Prominent Kintbury villagers label man convicted of downloading child porn "a pillar of the community"
Prominent members of a village community have leaped to defend a man convicted of possessing more than 2,000 images of child pornography.

Aston Dalzell Piper, of Station Road, Kintbury, downloaded pictures and videos of young boys, some of which were the rated in the most extreme category of child pornography, Newbury magistrates heard last Thursday.
However, in an extraordinary twist after the hearing, some prominent villagers voiced public support for the church bellringer and a man they called "a pillar of the community".

One even branded the law "a bit of an ass" for its treatment of the 65-year-old.

Meanwhile the vicar of St Mary?s Church, Kintbury, the Rev Julie Ramsbottom, took the unusual step of issuing a joint statement with the Bishop of Reading, the Right Rev Stephen Cottrell which said: "Aston has kept us informed of the present court case against him. We have, hence, laid careful plans both to care for him and for our other parishioners, who will be concerned and dismayed by this news."

In court, prosecutor Becky Owens said detectives found 2,642 indecent images of children on two computers at Mr Dalzell Piper?s home, as well as eight short videos.

A minority of the images were categorised as level five - the most extreme form of child pornography - and the bulk of the images depicted children aged between eight and 12, said Ms Owens.
However, she added: "Some were older and some were even younger."

Mr Dalzell Piper admitted seven charges of making indecent photographs of children between July 14 2004 and December 1 last year.

Mike Davis, defending, said: "He is previously of good character and can produce a large number of references that, perhaps, go beyond that.

"The bulk of the images by far were of level one (the least serious) and I therefore urge you to consider whether this is a case that this court can deal with."

The court clerk advised magistrates that the maximum sentence they could pass would be 12 months? imprisonment and suggested that they considered committing Mr Dalzell Piper to the Crown court - which has much greater powers - for sentence.

After considering the matter, magistrates decided that their punishment powers were insufficient and committed Mr Dalzell Piper to the Crown court for sentence.

Afterwards, Adam Rae-Smith, treasurer of the Friends of St Mary?s Church and member of the Kintbury Parish Plan Steering Group, contacted the Newbury Weekly News to voice support for Mr Dalzell Piper.

He said: "I am fully supportive of him and believe that, in this case, the law is a bit of an ass. He was just surfing freely available images but he has been foolish and naive.

"I don?t regard him as any risk. People trust their children with him and he is a valuable member of the village and church community who does many good works."

Villager Monica Moore said: "He knows he has been an absolute idiot but he has a lot of support in Kintbury.
"He is a pillar of the community and is well known and liked for the tremendous amount of voluntary work he does."

However, the chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, Jim Gamble, said: "These images do not do not come out of thin air. In every image is a child who has been subjected to abuse."

Newbury Today