Top lawyer jailed over abuse pics
Advocate turned crime author had photos of children as young as one
A RETIRED High Court advocate who was caught with a haul of child abuse images on his computer has been jailed for 12 months.
John Mayer downloaded more than 500 pictures depicting the sexual abuse of kids with some victims as young as 12 months old between August 2019 and January 2021.
Mayer, 72, tried to hide his depravity by deleting the images and was found to have used computer cleaning software in a bid to hide his online offending.
The former lawyer – who turned to writing crime novels following his retirement – denied the offences but was found guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in December.
Mayer, who has since moved from Edinburgh to Exeter in Devon, returned to the dock for sentencing yesterday.
Sheriff Iain Nicol said he had to impose a sentence that would be “a deterrent to those who are, or are thinking about, getting involved in this abhorrent practice”.
Mayer was jailed for 12 months and was placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
Solicitor Pat Campbell, defending, said his client had recently been forced to reject an offer from film producers who were keen to dramatise one of his novels.
Mayer is author of the Parliament House series of crime novels that feature the character Brogan McLane QC who fights against injustice.
An online biography states that Mayer studied Law at the Edinburgh University before becoming an Advocate in the Supreme Courts of Scotland.
The trial heard from forensic computer analyst David McGowan who was working with Police Scotland as a cyber crime officer at the time of Mayer’s arrest on January 28, 2021.
The expert told the court that he discovered thumb-nail images on a device which belonged to Mayer after the original picture files had been deleted.
The court was told there were 511 indecent images on the computer which were rated as 117 at Category A, 193 at Category B and 201 at Category C.
The expert also said the laptop contained the ADB Shredder programme that is used to permanently delete computer files.
Mayer told the jury he was a retired advocate who had acted in High Court trials, worked with the International Criminal Court at The Hague and had specialised in fighting international child abuse and abduction.
He claimed that he had never seen the child abuse images on his laptop and denied ever accessing them online.