TwinkTrial: Justice

A man whose life was ruined when he was charged with child sex offences after looking at legal gay pornography in a hotel room has accused the police and Crown Prosecution Service of a “homophobic witch-hunt” after his case was finally thrown out. The defendant endured a “two-year nightmare” after being arrested in front of his family, charged with 10 offences almost a year later and repeatedly bailed, before every charge was dropped. If convicted he would have faced jail and been forced to sign the sex offenders’ register. His father died while he was awaiting trial.

The CPS, which spent tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money pursuing the case, offered no evidence in court – in effect conceding there was no case to answer. His lawyers say they gave the CPS conclusive documentary evidence three months ago that all models featured in the pornography were of legal age.

The Independent is not naming the man, a professional in his thirties, and has agreed not to disclose which court the hearing took place in, to protect his identity. He has never been in trouble with the law before.

The defendant’s nightmare began during a business trip in September 2011 when he viewed images on a website specialising in “twink” pornography. Twink is a well-known term in gay slang for young-looking men who are aged 18 or over.

When a female guest who stayed in the same room the following week saw the computer’s browsing history she complained to the hotel and staff called the police. Six months later, in March 2012, the man was arrested at his father’s home.

Speaking after the trial closed the man said: “While I feel utter relief and a sense of euphoria that the nightmare has ended, I am at the same time extremely angry: angry at the CPS, the police and, above all, angry that my father, who never doubted me and stood by me, never got to see this day. I’m angrier that that was the last year of his life and that I just couldn’t be the son during this time that I wanted to be to him.

“I can only conclude that the police officers and the CPS showed institutional homophobia throughout this case. I doubt I would have been treated the same way if heterosexual pornography was involved. Police... were obviously clueless about pornography – as were the CPS.”

The Independent.

580 days to decide the whole thing was too ludicrous to proceed.
Impossible to summarise the stupidity, cruelty and outrageousness of this - so please read the article in full. 
Never understood how watching any porn can be a crime - nor why you can have sex with someone who's 16, but not look at a photo of them in the nuddy - but maybe that's just me...

The man was represented by Myles Jackman - Obscenity Lawyer - and his team.
An heroic figure, he has also successfully defended the GLA's Simon Walsh against charges of possessing "extreme pornography", and "Sleazy Michael" Peacock over distributing "obscene" DVDs.
ie It's not a crime to have a wank.
The latter case was ignored by the British gay news media.
Walsh got sympathetic coverage, one can assume the fact that he's a leading gay Tory was but coincidental.

Jackman writes about the most recent case here; “The CPS has at best showed an ignorance of gay culture and at worst showed itself to be institutionally homophobic.”

Thank you, Myles, and please pass on my apologies to your client for our country's crapitude.
What a load of wank!