Ex-school head admits swapping child porn pictures

Published on Tuesday 2 December 2008 21:34

A FORMER headteacher has admitted exchanging hundreds of child pornography images across the internet over a year.

Police found more than 450 illegal pictures on a laptop computer seized from Andrew Melville's home after a tip-off.

The 47-year-old, who was suspended from his headteacher's post at Whitecraig Primary in Musselburgh after the allegations came to light, has now been sacked by East Lothian Council following an investigation.

Most of the pictures, which he both received and sent through electronic messages, featured young girls between the ages of eight and 15.

At Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, the father of three admitted being in possession of indecent pictures of children at his home in Muirfield Station, Gullane.

Melville, who was in charge of the school from November 2007, also pleaded guilty to distributing or showing the pictures between 13 June, 2004, and 30 May, 2005.

Sheriff Alistair Noble deferred sentence until next month and placed Melville on the sex offenders' register before continuing his bail.

Melville has also been banned from using the internet or e-mail, and he is not allowed any unsupervised contact with children under 16 years.