November 2009

Child porn shame of former Century Radio DJ

SICKENING images of child porn were found on a shamed former radio presenter’s computer.

Neil Caven, who used to work for Century Radio, was found to have 148 indecent images of young girls.

Caven had been due to stand trial at Newcastle Crown Court having denied the offences since his arrest last year.

But now he has admitted nine child pornography charges and a judge has jailed him for six months, suspended for two years.

Recorder Simon Bourne-Arton told him: “You pleaded guilty at the last opportunity in the face of overwhelming evidence.

“The public do not expect people such as yourself to have such images.

“The public expect to be protected from those who, like you, seek out for their own gratification such images.”

Caven, 33, of Loraine Terrace, Lemington, Newcastle, worked as a sidekick to Paul ‘Goffy’ Gough on the Century Radio breakfast show.

He gained cult status and was often the brunt of the show’s jokes and wind ups.

Up until 2005 when he left the radio station, Caven was a well known figure and a familiar character to listeners.

But last March police found he had been downloading indecent pictures of children from the internet.

He pleaded guilty to seven counts of making indecent pictures of children between April 2004 and July 2007 and two counts of possession of indecent pictures in March last year.

The judge said he could suspend the inevitable prison sentence because Caven had had the matter hanging over him for 18 months and had suffered public humiliation.

Recorder Bourne-Arton said: “You will have had to endure personal embarrassment and you have had this hanging over you since March last year.

“You will have had to face family and friends and now you have admitted the sort of person you are, someone who preys on young exploited girls.

“I trust your arrest and public humiliation will act as sufficient deterrent to you.”

As well as the suspended prison sentence Caven was told he must sign sex offender register for seven years, was put on supervision and ordered to pay £3,000 costs.

The court heard most of the images were classed as level 1, the least serious category, although four were level 4, the second most serious type.

Caven left Century Radio in 2005 after Goffy moved to Metro Radio.

Since then he has been working for a car dealership on Tyneside as a salesman.

In 2004 the former Walbottle High School pupil starred in TV show Airline, when he had a panic attack while conquering his fear of flying.