February 2011

Blackheath former assistant headteacher Kenneth Browne jailed for downloading child pornography

A FORMER assistant headteacher has been jailed and banned from working with children for life after he downloaded child pornography.

Kenneth Browne of South Row, Blackheath, was sentenced to ten months in prison at Hove Crown Court yesterday (February 24).

The 60-year-old admitted six counts of making indecent photographs of children and six counts of possessing indecent photographs of children between 2005 and 2009.

More than 7,700 images were found in Browne’s possession after he was arrested following a tip off.

The charges which were internet based related to images of young girls aged 10 to 13. They did not involve any contact with children.

Sussex Police said the images had not been downloaded at Dorothy Stringer School in Brighton where he worked, and that pupils at the school were not involved.

Browne was chosen by the Foreign Office in January 2007 as one of 25 leading teachers to represent the country as an ambassador for British schools in Europe.

At a previous court hearing, Lewis Power, defending Browne, said the defendant had accepted from the outset that he had a problem and was willing to participate in a sex offenders’ programme.

Judge Charles Kemp jailed Browne, ordered that he sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years and banned him from working with children for life.

Detective Inspector Ali Eaton, of Sussex Police, said: “This was a complex and detailed investigation and the result reflects the seriousness of the offences.

“Although the majority of the images were not of the most extreme type, it must be understood that every such image represents child abuse.”