Net porn nurse escapes jail term

Aug 31 2007 by Deborah James, Liverpool Daily Post

A FORMER nurse who downloaded child pornography from the internet has been spared a jail sentence.

Christopher Nolan, 35, resigned from his position as a staff nurse at Whiston hospital after being convicted by a Liverpool Crown Court jury of 26 charges of making indecent images of a child.

Nolan, of St James Road, Prescot, downloaded the images, mainly of teenage girls, and transferred 85 of them on to a disk.

He was reported when his friend borrowed his computer hard drive.

John Dixon, prosecuting, told the court that when the friend discovered images of children being abused, the police were called.

Officers visited Nolan’s home and seized his computer and CDs, on which they found 85 indecent images of children.

Mr Dixon told the court the images varied from showing nudity to depicting graphic images of children being abused and the majority of them were in the least serious category.

Neville Biddle, defending, said Nolan had been a hard-working nurse who enjoyed his job.

He said Nolan knew he would be struck off the register by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Mr Biddle said: “By his behaviour he has destroyed his career.”

“He has completely destroyed his life by doing this.”

Judge Mark Brown sentenced Nolan to a two-year community rehabilitation order, with a requirement he undergoes the Internet Sex Offenders Treatment Programme and ordered him to carry out 120 hours’ unpaid work.

Nolan was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years, disqualified from working with children and must pay £2,000 prosecution costs.