The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
School worker spared jail over abuse images
Images found on laptop owned by St Leonard’s School in St Andrews
An IT technician at a £33,000-a-year boarding school who downloaded sickening child abuse images on to a school laptop has been spared jail.
Andrew Sutton, who worked at the exclusive St Leonards School in St Andrews, was arrested when police were handed “confidential information” that a computer at his house had accessed indecent images of children.
Illegal pictures were later found on a school-owned Apple Mac laptop.
A spokesperson for the school said Sutton had been suspended the day the allegations had come to light.
Depute fiscal Charmaine Gilmartin told Dundee Sheriff Court: “At the time of the investigation, he worked as an IT engineer at a school and held a child PVG (disclosure certificate).
“During March 2017, cyber crime officers received confidential information that devices at his address contained indecent images of children.
“A search warrant was granted and at 7.45am on March 2 last year, police attended his home. Nobody was present so they attended the accused’s workplace. He cooperated with officers and returned with them to his home.
“Two laptops were recovered and a forensic analysis of one of them found it contained indecent images of children.
“There were seven images at category A, two at category B and 29 at category C. There was also one category A video and one video at category C.”
Sutton, 59, of St Michaels Drive, Cupar, pleaded guilty on indictment to taking or making indecent images of children by downloading them at his home address between February 1 2011 and March 2 2017.
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC imposed a community payback order, with 240 hours unpaid work, 18 months supervision and conduct requirements around his contact with children.
She said: “Taking into account all the circumstances, I’m persuaded I can impose a community payback order as a direct alternative to custody.”
Sutton will also be on the Sex Offenders Register for 18 months.
A spokesperson for St Leonards School – whose alumni include double Wimbledon champion Kitty Godfree and Tony Blair’s former adviser Anji Hunter – said: “We were extremely shocked by the arrest, and are appalled by his behaviour. His PVG check was reviewed four months prior to his arrest. He did not work directly with children.
“Police Scotland Cyber Crime Unit confirmed none of his offences related to the school. The safety and wellbeing of our students is paramount and we continue to enforce robust safeguarding measures to ensure all appointed employees are entirely suitable.”