Spanking images ex-teacher jailed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-34296907

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A retired teacher who was caught with indecent images on his computer of boys being spanked has been jailed.

Eric Wayman, of Gosberton, near Spalding, was caught following an investigation into a Canadian company which marketed child pornography.

His details were found on the company's customer database and details passed to UK police who raided his home in December 2013.

The 63-year-old was jailed for six months at Lincoln Crown Court.

Richard Thatcher, prosecuting, said: "Wayman accepted he had a sexual interest in corporal punishment and he regularly visited spanking websites."

The images included pictures of boys as young as 11, the court was told.

However, the court heard the offending took place after he retired from Spalding Grammar School in 2004.

Corporal punishment

More than 4,000 indecent images were found on computers recovered from Wayman's home. Twenty-four showed boys being spanked.

He admitted possession of indecent images of children and a further 11 charges of making an indecent image of a child.

Sentencing him, Judge John Pini QC said that for each of the images in the most serious category a young child somewhere in the world had been sexually abused to produce them.

"I would be failing in my public duty if I were to impose anything other than an immediate custodial sentence," he told him.

Michael Cranmer-Brown, defending, said his client recognised "he has this distorted thinking and he very much wants something to be done about it".

"He has shown remarkable candour. His interest in corporal punishment was not exclusively paedophilic. He recognises he needs help and he wants to be helped," he told the court.