A MAN who was being investigated for business fraud has been jailed for making and possessing indecent images of children.
Peter Ferguson, 57, of Simon’s Lane, was jailed on Friday, August 18, for 15 months after being found guilty of possessing 14 images of children on his computer.
Police had seized his equipment while investigating Mr Ferguson’s removals company for fraud.
Mr Ferguson, who has two previous convictions from 2003 and 2009 for possessing indecent images, was found guilty of breaching a sexual offences order, four counts of possessing category A images, three counts of possessing category B images, and seven counts of possessing category C images.
Mr Ferguson, who has three young children from his current marriage, and three older children from a previous relationship, accessed the images on his work computer, which was password protected.
His defence argued during the trial that the computer could have been accessed by a number of employees of his business, but evidence showed that only Mr Ferguson was able to gain access to the personal drive, and that on one occasion he viewed the images at 4.20am.
During his trial, Mr Ferguson had also challenged the age of the children in the images, arguing that he believed they were over 18.
But the jury and the judge agreed that the images were of children aged 16 to 18-years-old.
The court heard how Mr Ferguson’s business had suffered while the police investigation and subsequent trial was carried out, resulting in six employees losing their jobs, and huge debts being incurred for outstanding bills.
Mr Ferguson was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for the first four counts; nine months for charges six to eight; and three months for charges nine to 15, all to run concurrently.
Mr Ferguson had already spent 85 days in custody which would count towards his sentence, and he will serve half of the time before being released on licence.
He has also been placed on the sexual offenders’ register banning him from working with children under the age of 18.
