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| Patrick Rock avoids prison after child images conviction | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A former aide to Prime Minister David Cameron, Patrick Rock, has avoided a prison sentence after downloading indecent images of underage girls | |
| The ex-deputy director of policy at Downing Street was given a two-year conditional discharge after being convicted of five charges. | |
| He was acquitted of three similar counts and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining 12 charges. | |
| Rock, 65, had admitted downloading 20 images but denied they were indecent. | |
| Although he will not serve time in prison, Judge Alistair McCreath said Rock's punishment was "the loss of your reputation and your very public humiliation". | Although he will not serve time in prison, Judge Alistair McCreath said Rock's punishment was "the loss of your reputation and your very public humiliation". |
| "I have not lost sight of the obvious reality that right-thinking people will quite properly consider that those who did what you did should be punished for it. | "I have not lost sight of the obvious reality that right-thinking people will quite properly consider that those who did what you did should be punished for it. |
| "You should be. And you have been... It is a punishment which you brought on yourself but is nonetheless a very real one. And it is one that is utterly merited." | |
| The court heard that the youngest of the girls in the pictures was aged just 10 years and four months when he downloaded the image - meaning she would have been younger when it was taken. | The court heard that the youngest of the girls in the pictures was aged just 10 years and four months when he downloaded the image - meaning she would have been younger when it was taken. |
| Rock must register as a sex offender for two years and was also banned from using a device with the internet unless it can retain his browsing history and he surrenders it for inspection by police over the same period. | Rock must register as a sex offender for two years and was also banned from using a device with the internet unless it can retain his browsing history and he surrenders it for inspection by police over the same period. |