200 charged over obscene materials in a single year

MORE than 200 people were charged with possession of obscene material in the Lothians in a single year, new figures revealed today.

A total of 138 individuals were charged with the offence between April 2008 and March last year in Edinburgh.

Another 13 came from East Lothian, 16 from Midlothian and 37 from West Lothian, bringing the Lothian total to 204.

The figure represents a massive rise on 2004/05, when only 16 people in the whole of Lothian were charged with the offence, including six in the Capital.

The growth in paedophiles using the internet to download and share child pornography has seen Lothian and Borders Police setting up a specialist unit – the largest of its kind in Scotland – to hunt down online perverts.

The figures were revealed by justice secretary Kenny MacAskill after a parliamentary question by Lothians Tory MSP Gavin Brown.

Mr Brown said: "These figures are absolutely shocking, with four people every week caught in possession of obscene materials."