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Former aide to David Cameron cleared over two images of girls Former aide to David Cameron found guilty over five images of girls
(about 3 hours later)
A former aide to David Cameron has been cleared of two counts of downloading indecent images of girls. The jury is still considering 18 other counts. A former aide to David Cameron has been found guilty of downloading indecent images of girls.
Patrick Rock, 65, admitted downloading 20 pictures of nine girls to his computer from a free-to-view website over three days in August 2013 but denied they were indecent. Patrick Rock, 64, admitted downloading 20 pictures of nine girls to his computer from a free-to-view website over three days in August 2013 but denied they were indecent.
A brief trial on Tuesday centred solely on whether the images, which included girls aged 10 to 16 posing in bikinis, hot pants and a bra, broke the law. After a brief trial, which centred solely on whether the images - which included girls aged 10 to 16 posing in bikinis, hot pants and a bra - broke the law, the jury of six men and six women at Southwark crown court, in London, decided by a majority of 10 to 2 that five of them did.
On Wednesday the jury of six men and six women at Southwark crown court in London decided that two of the pictures – of girls aged 14 and 11 respectively at the time of download – did not. Rock was found not guilty with respect to three of the pictures and the jury failed to reach verdicts with respect to the remaining 12. The jury was discharged by Judge Alistair McCreath, who said Rock had brought “massive reputational harm” upon himself.
The jurors resumed deliberations on the remaining counts. The images, found on an iPad in North Carolina, while Rock was working in the US, were all classified as category C, the lowest on the scale. McCreath said Rock would not face a custodial sentence.
Before being appointed as Cameron’s deputy director of policy, Rock had worked on policy for restricting internet pornography to protect children and as an adviser to former Conservative home secretary Michael Howard.
He was one of only three advisers given his own private office in No 10 and had been close to Cameron for two decades.
The prime minister said he was “profoundly shocked” at the time of Rock’s arrest.
After his arrest, Labour accused the Tories of a lack of transparency over the affair, suggesting Rock may have been tipped off by Downing Street before being detained.
Rock was told by his sister that US police were interested in the contents of his laptop. He told the prime minister’s private secretary on 12 February 2014 and resigned the same day.
He was arrested in his west London home in the early hours of 13 February – a “few hours” after Downing Street reported it to police.
Number 10 only confirmed details of his arrest almost three weeks later after being approached by the Daily Mail.
It also emerged at that time that he had been previously accused of “inappropriate behaviour” by a colleague and this incident was investigated by his line manager, Ed Llewellyn, Cameron’s chief of staff, who is also an old friend of Rock’s.
Rock was originally accused of six counts of making indecent images of children and one charge of possessing 56 indecent images of children.
The charges he faced on Tuesday relate to 31 July to 31 August 2013 when Rock was living and working in the US.
Although the girls were not naked, the prosecution argued they were in “deliberately sexual” poses that drew attention to their genital and breast areas.
Prosecutor Tom Forster told the court: “They are scantily clad and/or their legs are often apart and/or they are showing their bottoms to the camera.”
Rock’s defence lawyer, Sasha Wass QC, compared the images with Britney Spears’ video for her 1998 song Hit Me Baby One More Time, which she made when she was 16 and featured her gyrating while dressed in a schoolgirl’s uniform.
She also used the example of Lewis Carroll being “captivated” by young Alice Liddell, the inspiration for his Alice in Wonderland.
Wass said Carroll took pictures of Liddell when she was 10 years old, which could be found in books on sale in shops. She suggested that criminalising Rock would suggest that the same should have happened to Carroll.
In pre-sentencing mitigation she argued that Rock had always accepted that he was “morally wrong” and had undergone a course of treatment with the Lucy Faithfully Foundation child protection charity. Wass said her client had lived an “unblemished life since August 2013 if not before”.
Rock, of Fulham, south-west London, did not give evidence during the trial, which began on Tuesday morning and lasted less than three hours. It featured no witnesses, only submissions from opposing counsel.