Porn shame of council conman

Pervert embezzled £6.7k to buy drink and drugs

A box office clerk caught embezzling thousands of pounds from Howden Park Centre hid a dark secret, a court heard.

As well as stealing money to pay for his drink and drugs addiction, Alan Burns was downloading obscene videos of youngsters being raped and sexually abused.

The pervert was also sharing with other paedophiles the thousands of depraved movies and indecent photographs of child abuse he had actively searched for online. Burns (51) managed to keep his criminal activity hidden for more than three years, Livingston Sheriff Court was told last Thursday.

But by bizarre coincidence police acting on a tip-off raided his home and seized computer equipment containing the abusive images around the same time his bosses noticed that money was going missing from the Livingston theatre.

West Lothian Council sacked Burns from his job and he was charged with embezzling £6726 from his employers between November 16, 2013 and January 22, 2016.

Burns pleaded guilty and just

£ 1334.39 – which was forfeited from his final pay cheque – was repaid.

As a result of the financial loss caused by Burns making 34 fraudulent “refunds” to his own credit and debit cards, the theatre had been forced to cut back on investment in new productions.

Burns also admitted possessing indecent images of children between April 23, 2014, and April 27, 2016, and distributing or showing indecent photographs on July 17, 2015, at his home in Victoria Street, Craigshill, Livingston.

Paul Haran, defending, said his client was full of remorse for the loss borne by the council and appreciated the impact his dishonesty had had on the public.

His hope that his family would help him repay the money had foundered because relationships were “strained” as a result of his conviction for possessing indecent images of children.

Sheriff Martin Edington sentenced Burns to a total of 16 months in prison for what he described as “very grave offences”

He also told Burns his name would remain on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

He said Burns had downloaded almost 1400 indecent images – almost half of them in the worst category ‘A’ and including many moving images – and the offences had been committed over a long period of time.

He highlighted how the accused had deliberately searched for child pornography and had admitted to social workers that he was “attracted to children”.

He added: “You were also trading images, not just viewing them, and you’re assessed at being at medium risk of reoffending.”

The sheriff said the High Court had classed such photographs as “serious abuse” and part of a “quite dreadful and appalling exploitation of children”.

He added: “The fact you are also up for sentence for another serious charge of embezzling a significant amount of money over a lengthy period of time involving a breach of trust and depriving a public body of funding means the court has no alternative but to sentence you to prison.”