Pete's diary

["L. Bird" <pkeets@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

8 May 2003
I WAKE UP FREE - BUT BRANDED

How ironic it is that I should find myself on a 'local' list of sex
offenders when for the last 30 years I have worked tirelessly to help
hundreds of people afflicted directly or indirectly by childhood sexual
trauma and all the subsequent human psychodramas it leads to. I have always
kept quiet about this. Until now.

Until now, out of respect for the police investigation into
child-pornography on the internet, I have kept silent, and waited for
justice. I think the decision to caution me was right and just. I admitted
an offence without claiming extraordinary mitigation. That has left many
free to comment at will about my culpability or my poor judgement. But
surely it must be seen that I have always been an ardent messenger warning
of the potential proliferation of dangerous pornographic materials on the
internet, which - exposed to children or impressionable adults - could have
an effect that can only be described as 'soul-trauma'.

What could also be described as 'soul-trauma' is putting a well-known
celebrity on a 'local' sex offenders list after police spent three and a
half months trawling forensically through eleven computers and other media
and found not a single instance of child pornography. Neither have they
received a single complaint about my personal sexual conduct. I understand
now that research of any kind is now not permitted in the particularly
sensitive arena of child porn. Therefore I admitted to what I regard as a
technical offence - the use of a credit card on one occasion, and for
research.

I have no argument with the police or the press. But I think the rules here
with respect to the sex offenders register might be a bit askew. But then I
suppose I would wouldn't I?

In your mind, put me on the list of wonky but well-intentioned liberal
do-gooders if you like. But please do not think of me as a 'sex offender'.
That, quite simply, as I and most other right-minded people in the UK
understand it, is neither true nor just.

Pete. May 8th 2003

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