Judge Allows Pedophile Politician To Walk Free After He’s Caught With 1 Million Child Abuse Images

A pedophile elected politician who worked in a children’s home has been allowed to walk free by a judge despite being caught with over one million child porn images and videos — including of 12-year-old girls being raped. 

Despite being caught red-handed in possession of 68 devices holding over one million “serious” child abuse images, Judge Peter Johnson spared Roger Spackman from serving any time in prison.

Roger Spackman, 50, a leftwing politician elected as a councillor to the Exeter City Council, worked at a children’s home at the time he started collecting the enormous hoard of child abuse images.  

Judge Peter Johnson told Spackman: “In essence, you were undertaking some form of therapeutic role-play in which others invited you to take the part of the victim and sent you indecent photographs to assist in the role-play.

“What is troubling is the huge and remarkable number of images.“

Exeter Crown Court heard that he was part of an internet pedophile ring called The Other Place. A police investigation in 2017 charged the two ringleaders with child sex offences and other members were exposed, including Spackman.

Judge Peter Johnson jailed Spackman for ten months, suspended for two years, with 40 days rehab for possessing a ‘huge number of — allowing the pedophile politician to walk free.

DailyMail report: Judge Johnson said it was ‘an astonishing number‘ of images which included the most serious category A images and others of category B and C.

The judge said he was of good character working hard in public service as a councillor in Exeter before his ‘fall from grace which has been dramatic’.

He said Spackman had been abused as a child and played the role of an abused child in this forum. 

Many of the images were inaccessible but the offenses dated back to 2008 – seven years after he began working at the secure children’s home.

The court heard the most graphic images showed young girls aged 12 being raped. 

Spackman’s barrister Barry White said: ‘He likes to pretend he is a young girl who will be abused. He will pretend to be a young girl.’

Mr White stressed: ‘None of the images are of people who he knows. He has never sexually assaulted any children nor would he do so.

‘The images were sent to him by the other party in the fantasy which were indicative of what that person liked. He did not get to choose what images but he accepted them all.’

Prosecutor Thomas Faulkner said some of the worst images were found on two devices found in his bedroom.

He said: ‘Those images depicted pre-pubescent girls forced to take part in sexual activity.’

Mr White said there had been ‘considerable impact‘ on his life since his arrest in October 2017 – quitting his Labour seat the day after his arrest and avoiding going out in public because ‘everyone knows what he has done’.

Spackman admitted between October 2007 and July 2017 possessing still and moving images of categories A, B and C as well as possessing a prohibited image and possessing 48 extreme pornographic images involving an animal.