Former councillor denies child porn charges

Aug 12 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

A FORMER Liverpool councillor has denied a string of child porn charges.

Ben Williams, 34, is accused of 12 charges of making and possessing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.

The former Labour councillor for the Clubmoor ward today appeared at Liverpool Crown Court for the first time.

Wearing a black suit and open-necked blue shirt the history tutor, of Townsend Avenue, Clubmoor, confirmed his name and entered not guilty pleas to all charges.

They relate to allegations he downloaded or viewed obscene images between November 5, 2006 and January 26, 2008.

He is not alleged to have taken the pictures himself, but have accessed the pictures through search engines, Google, Google Images and MSN.

Williams was arrested last December by officers from Sefton Family Crime Unit.