Sex register expert distributed child pornography

Dec 12 2006 By Louise Hosie, The Journal

A home Office expert who helped set up a national database for violent and sexual offenders yesterday admitted distributing child pornography.

A court was told Vincent Barron, 49, sent 10 images of children to the computer of another man he emailed as part of online chat room conversations.

At the time of the offence Barron, a probation officer from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, was on secondment to the Home Office to help set up the Violent and Sex Offender Register (VISOR). He was interviewed by police when evidence linking him to the images was found by officers who were examining the other man's computer as part of a separate investigation.

Barron appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court in Fife yesterday where he admitted a single charge of distributing or showing indecent pseudo-photos of children between May 1 and August 24, 2005.

Fiscal Anne Gray said 10 images had been sent from Barron's computer during online chat conversations with a man in Fife. The images were discovered by police officers when the Fife man's computer was seized in December 2005 after an allegation of sexual abuse was made against him by a girl.