Man on trial over images of kids and public indecency

Jul 28 2011 Hamilton Advertiser

THE trial of a 24-year-old man accused of possessing indecent images of kids is underway at Hamilton Sheriff Court this week.

James McCreadie Brown, known as Jim Brown, has denied two charges relating to photographs of children.

Brown, of Holytown, also denied engaging in an act of public indecency at a children’s swimming pool earlier this year.

The court was told on Tuesday that officers from Coatbridge Police Office arrived at the home Brown shared with his family last October 4.

Police constables Lynn Fleming and Scott Barber explained that they were acting on information and were executing a search warrant at the mid-terraced house.

PC Fleming told fiscal depute Jacqui McGarrity that the accused was out when they arrived at his home.

However, his father James Brown snr, mother Marion Brown and younger sister Kimberley were there.

Officers informed the family that the house was to be searched, the court was told.

PC Fleming told Ms McGarrity that police seized a laptop that had been sitting in the living room of the property, which was said to belong to the accused’s sister.

Officers also seized an Apple laptop and external hard drive from a loft room at the house. This equipment, the court heard, was owned by Brown.

It was also only accessed by him, according to his father.

Both constables Fleming and Barber confirmed that the computers were transported to Bellshill Police Officer before being taken to Strathclyde Police’s Computer Crime Unit in Helen Street, Glasgow.

It is alleged that computer equipment found at the home contained indecent images of children.

Jim Brown (24) pleaded not guilty to two charges relating to images of children over a four-year period.

He denied possessing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children at a home in Holytown’s Main Street. It is alleged he committed the offence between December 25, 2006, and October 4, 2010.

The accused also denied taking or permitting to be taken or making the indecent images at the same address during the same period.

Furthermore, the 24-year-old also pleaded not guilty to committing an act of public indecency at Wishaw Sports Centre on April 2 this year.

He denied committing the offence after positioning himself in a cubicle near to the children’s swimming pool at the sports centre.

Brown also denied committing all these offences while on bail for another matter.

The trial before Sheriff Thomas Millar and a jury was continuing as the Advertiser went to press yesterday (Wednesday).