A local councillor, accused of having 18,000 extreme pornographic images on his computer when police - tipped off by his estranged wife's discovery of a sick magazine - raided his home, has escaped jail with a suspended sentence.
Art gallery owner Andrew Francis Lamont, 53, who continued representing the residents of Norland ward on Kensington and Chelsea council after the raid was also fined £20,000, with £5,270 costs and ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years.
Partially-sighted Lamont, of The Organ Factory, Swanscombe Road, Notting Hill, who eventually resigned his Conservative seat on the eve of his first court appearance, was convicted on 4 counts of downloading indecent images of children and 4 counts of possessing extreme pornography involving animals.
Judge Andrew Johnson sentenced Lamont (pictured) to six months imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months, and told him: "Those who make photographs of children go to prison.
"There were level four photographs of children, which is an extremely high level, just short of sadistic photographs of children.
"The public has an obvious revulsion, quite rightly, of those who use computers for their own sexual gratification by downloading such images.
"So far as the extreme pornography is concerned, given your background, it's extraordinary you have possessed these images, which are obviously revolting as well.
"I have to take into account that, very unusually in this case, you suffer from a disability although it has not stopped you from committing these offences.
"You have also contributed to society by being in employment and public service."
Prosecutor Mr. Gino Connor told the Isleworth Crown Court jury at the start of the trial that Lamont's ex-wife Sue, a successful interior designer, found a magazine on July 20, 2010 in the master bedroom of their home, from where they ran their businesses.
"They were going through a divorce and Mrs Lamont found a pornographic magazine amongst her husband's belongings on top of a shoe box.
"It contained an image of a juvenile, aged around ten, on the cover and she is naked. There were more photographs of the juvenile in the magazine in various poses."
Lamont's ex-wife, now known by her maiden name of Sue McGregor, told the jury: "There were four magazines, but I did not really see the others after I saw that one.
"It was child pornography and it was of a very young girl and the fact that she was only as old as his brother's daughter, my Godchild, I found very distressing.
"I just remember going very cold and put it in an envelope. I just did not want to look at it, I did not want to touch it and it took me a couple of days to digest this."
She told the jury that in August, 2008 she stumbled upon more underage images belonging to her husband on his office computer.
"When I touched the keyboard an image came up that I found really shocking. Enough for me to run out of the house in tears. It was young girls clad in lingerie, they were early teens."
She later confronted the defendant about her discovery. "He was angry and we had an argument about it. He said that it was a 'one off' that it was a mistake."
She put the magazine she found in with her divorce papers and the discovery was later reported to police, who raided the address.
"Magazines of a sexual nature were found, titilation and pornographic magazines and magazines containing sexual acts between animals and females were found," explained Mr. Connor.
"Also found were an Apple computer, a hard drive and a black box. The computer was connected to a larger screen so the images could be magnified.
"This computer was used to view pornographic material and also assisted the defendant in his work as an interior designer," added the prosecutor.
"Contained within the computer were existing and deleted pictures and movies of erotic posing, non-penetrative sex involving children, sexual images and extreme pornography, which included acts between females and animals."
The hard drive with the sole account user of 'Andrew Lamont' was not connected, but when examined it contained over 18,000 images and movies depicting extreme pornography.
In the black box police found pornographic magazines. "One of the magazines, which contained forty-seven pictures, included females with dogs and that sort of thing."
Lamont said nothing when questioned, but during a second interview on July 26, last year claimed the original magazine his ex-wife found had been purchased by him in Amsterdam 25-30 years ago.
"He said he walked into a sex shop in Amsterdam, selected a few things not knowing what they were due to his severely impaired eyesight, and said it was a bit of a guess to him what the images were," added Mr. Connor.
"Well he spent a long time trying to guess what those images were," the prosecutor told the jury.
"He said he obtained sexual gratification from the internet, particularly since the relationship had broken down with his wife.
"He said he had trouble viewing images on the screen and would have to zoom in so much the pixilation would make it impossible to know what it was.
"He said everything he had ever seen was a guess."
Lamont also told police his ex-wife's brother also had access to his computer.
"He believed it was possible she was in collusion with others and had planted the images on the computer.
"You have to decide if that may be true or if it is the act of a desperate man, who viewed and made these images, but can't face up to it."
