Eton schoolboy who shared 'appalling' child abuse images from dorm computer is spared prison

Judge says prison would 'undo' counselling 'privileged' Andrew Picard has undergone after he was caught distributing hundreds of images on Skype

A "privileged" Eton College schoolboy who boasted to an undercover police officer of having hundreds of child abuse images and videos has been spared jail after a judge said prison would “undo” the counselling he has undergone.
Andrew Picard was 17 when he was caught distributing graphic child sex images and films on Skype to an officer.
The schoolboy's chatroom account was traced to the prestigious school, near Windsor, Berkshire, where he was arrested for sharing explicit material between January and February 2015.

A judge on Thursday said that some of the videos - which included abuse of babies and toddlers - were "so appalling, frankly I can't bring myself to talk about it".



Cathy Olliver, prosecuting, said the undercover officer had entered a a "teen" chatroom, for those aged between 13 and 19, when he was contacted by a user called AP16MUK - standing for Andrew Picard, aged 16, male, from the UK.
Picard messaged the undercover officer, asking: "Do you want to see pics of boys and girls your age, nude?"
Boasting of having hundreds of videos, Picard added the officer on Skype and shared indecent images of a boy aged 10 and girls aged eight and 14.

Asking the undercover officer for proof he was 14 as he said and not some "old" man, Picard later shared a video of his own face.

"His IP address led police to Eton school in Berkshire where staff were able to identify him as a pupil," Ms Olliver said. "He was arrested from school on suspicion of distributing indecent photographs of children."

Picard, now 18, admitted one count of possessing indecent pictures of children, one count of making indecent pictures of children and eight counts of distributing indecent photos or recordings of a child.


Detectives found 1,185 indecent images and videos on his computer and on hard drives seized from his school dormitory.

They also discovered logs from the chatrooms where Picard boasted about the "quality" of his videos and asked users who claimed to be as young as 14 to exchange naked shots of themselves for indecent videos he would provide.

Ms Olliver added: "There are aggravating features, the children are very young, in obvious pain and distress, and the number of photographs distributed."



Eton College in Berkshire  Photo: INS


Picard shut his eyes as Judge Peter Ross described some of the Category A material found in his possession.
Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC, defending, referred to her client's remorse and pointed to the good work he had been doing with doctors in the past year, undergoing constant treatment with numerous doctors and psychiatrists.

"This is a young and very able man who has hopes for the future," she added. "He was able to have this opportunity [to seek help] and this was something Andrew sought for himself, by himself."

Sparing Picard jail, Judge Ross said a term of custody would undo the good work he had done in the past year undergoing extensive counselling.

He said: "This defendant Andrew Picard was a privileged young man. His family are clearly wealthy enough to send him to school in Eton.

"Quite how you found your way into this unpleasant world Mr Picard, the world of chatrooms and exchanging this material, is not clear to me.

"Why you did it doctors and others have sought to explain - the emotional difficulties you had, issues around your sexuality."


Andrew Picard was given a 10-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months  Photo: INS


However, the judge criticised all those who deal in child sexual exploitation, saying they were not "victimless crimes".
"All too often in these courts we see the internet and chatrooms providing a degree of assumed detachment in terms of what is said and the material that is viewed," he added.

"Please make no bones about it, these are children, some of them very tiny, and they are being abused and tortured simply to provide sexual gratification, mainly. to adult males.

"All over the world, too often in the third world, children being made objects of the most appalling abuse. It forms a currency and you played a part in that. You were seeking to obtain your own sexual gratification."

Picard, of Westminster, London, was handed a 10-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months.

A mental health treatment requirement was added for the same period, which will continue with his existing providers. He was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was ordered to pay £1,200 in prosecution costs.

The judge added: "It has been said that you and your family have suffered deeply as a result of your arrest and public exposure. Your family didn't deserve that but it is a consequence of this sort of offending."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/12173680/Eton-schoolboy-who-shared-appalling-child-abuse-images-from-dorm-computer-is-spared-prison.html

Teenager’s Sentence in Fatal Drunken-Driving Case Stirs ‘Affluenza’ Debate
By MANNY FERNANDEZ and JOHN SCHWARTZDEC. 13, 2013
HOUSTON — Wealth has never had a stigma in the affluent suburbs of Fort Worth, where the town of Westlake landed, to no one’s surprise, on Forbes’ list of America’s most affluent neighborhoods last year with a median income of $250,000.

But in recent days, the implications of being rich have set off an emotional, angry debate that has stretched far beyond the North Texas suburbs, after a juvenile court judge sentenced a 16-year-old from a well-off family to 10 years’ probation for killing four people in a drunken-driving crash.

The judge, Jean Boyd, on Tuesday declined to give the teenager, Ethan Couch, the punishment sought by Tarrant County prosecutors — 20 years in prison — and instead ordered him to be placed in a long-term treatment facility while on probation. Judge Boyd did not discuss her reasoning for her order, but it came after a psychologist called by the defense argued that Mr. Couch should not be sent to prison because he suffered from “affluenza” — a term that dates at least to the 1980s to describe the psychological problems that can afflict children of privilege.
******
Prosecutors said Mr. Couch swerved off Burleson-Retta Road, killing four pedestrians: Breanna Mitchell; Hollie Boyles and her daughter Shelby, 21; and Brian Jennings. Tests showed that Mr. Couch had a blood-alcohol level of 0.24, three times the legal limit for drivers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/us/teenagers-sentence-in-fatal-drunken-driving-case-stirs-affluenza-debate.html?_r=0

'Affluenza' teen Ethan Couch and missing mother captured near beach in Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta
BY Nicole Hensley   / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS /
Updated: Tuesday, December 29, 2015, 4:01 AM
"Affluenza" teen Ethan Couch was captured Monday with his mother in sunny Puerto Vallarta — a tourist-heavy resort town in Mexico about 1,200 miles south of his Texas home.

The spoiled 18-year-old brat, known for his eyebrow-raising “affluenza” defense following a drunk driving crash that left four people dead, was apparently hiding in plain sight with his mother, Tonya Couch, following a two-week manhunt that began in Tarrant County, Texas, and led U.S. Marshals to the Pacific Coast resort town, authorities said.

The mother and her son, who was sporting dyed black hair upon capture, were unable to prove their citizenship to Mexican immigration officials and will soon be returned to the United States, where the latter could face up to 10 years in prison for violating the rules of his probation.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ethan-couch-mother-caught-mexico-resort-town-report-article-1.2479213

Raggamuffin wrote:During the riots in the UK, one of the people arrested was a girl who had a rich father and was "privileged", and a lot of people bet that she wouldn't go to prison. They were wrong - she did.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18203338

HoratioTarr wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:During the riots in the UK, one of the people arrested was a girl who had a rich father and was "privileged", and a lot of people bet that she wouldn't go to prison. They were wrong - she did.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18203338

I remember that.  I'm glad they put her away, and it makes one wonder why someone so privileged would stoop so low.  Boredom, I suppose.   These kids need to do something constructive with their lives that involves giving instead of taking all the time.

Tommy Monk wrote:Did he carry out any direct sexual assault on anyone...?

sassy wrote:Think this is a case of his privilege and his father's position bring pressure to bear to let it happen.

sassy wrote:Think this is a case of his privilege and his father's position bring pressure to bear to let it happen.

Attorney General ‏@attorneygeneral

The Government has committed to extending the scope of the unduly lenient scheme so a wider range of sentences can be challenged 4/4

Attorney General ‏@attorneygeneral

Mr Picard’s crimes are not included and this means the Law Officers are unable to consider whether or not to refer the sentence 3/4

Attorney General ‏@attorneygeneral

Parliament has set out the offences which may give rise to sentences which can be challenged under the unduly lenient sentence scheme 2/4



Attorney General ‏@attorneygeneral 36m36 minutes ago

After a number of complaints, we looked into whether Andrew Picard’s sentence could be referred to the Court of Appeal for being too low 1/4

Raggamuffin wrote:I don't know what that means. What difference does it make what name he used?

sassy wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:I don't know what that means. What difference does it make what name he used?

OFFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Because it would mean that his name would not be on court records and his name would not be in the papers.