Journalist admits child porn charges

A MAN has admitted seven charges involving child pornography onthe Internet.

Jonathan Poore, 41, had been working as news editor for theKentish Express newspaper at Ashford, Kent, until his arrest inNovember last year.

Prior to that he had been employed as a senior press officer withHighlands and Islands Enterprise in Inverness and had served aprisonsentence in Scotland for molesting a nine-year-old boy.Yesterday he admitted he made a quantity of indecent photographsor pseudo-photographs of children under the age of 16 betweenJanuary1 and November 12 last year with a view to distribute or to show, byhimself or to others.Maidstone Crown Court Judge Keith Simpson ordered medical reportsto be prepared to determine whether he remains a danger to children.The pornographic material was discovered during a raid on the homePoore shared with his mother at Cobden Road, Hythe, Kent.Mr Robin Johnson, prosecuting, said police had compiled aselection of the pictures for a video tape to give an idea of thetype of indecency involved and intended to show Judge Simpson theshort film before Poore is sentenced on March 26.Mr Christopher Sutton-Mattocks, representing Poore, requested apyschologist's report to assess the potential risk he poses todetermine whether Poore had any mental illness, although it was notsuggested that he came under the Mental Health Act.Remanding him in custody, Judge Keith Simpson said of the film tobe shown to the court: "One does not want to have the public here togratify their own peculiar sexual appetites. If there is anyquestion of that happening, I may order that that part of thehearingbe held in camera."That sort of thing can happen and it would be deplorable if thecourt did not take action to avoid it."