Lancashire blind man accused of downloading child porn

A blind man accused of downloading indecent images of children said he did not know what he was looking at because he only has sight in one eye.

Andrew Shaw, 44, from Thornton Cleveleys in Lancashire, is alleged to have downloaded 71 obscene pictures and is charged with three child sex offences.

It is alleged that 12 of the images are of the most severe category of abuse.

Mr Shaw appeared in front of Blackpool magistrates with the aide of his black Labrador guide dog. 

His lawyer Allan Cobain said he would indicate that the defendant would plead guilty to some or all of the offences.

He said: ‘This is an unusual case as my client is registered blind. He has no sight in one eye and only a small amount in the other.

‘It may be argued that difficulty with his vision makes it difficult for him to put an age to images he downloads. He may think he is looking at 16-year olds.’

He successfully asked magistrates to adjourn proceedings so that the Crown Prosecution Service could look at the file again, with a view to giving his client a caution.

However, the lawyer said he would argue to keep the case before magistrates rather than have it sent to Crown Court.

The court heard that Shaw had been under investigation for more than a year.

Crown Prosecutor Jim Mowbray said the prosecution case had been carefully looked at before court proceedings had started.

Shaw was granted bail.