A paedophile who stored ‘revolting’ images of child pornography on his computer is to remain anonymous after a judge banned the press from revealing his identity.

In a highly-unusual move, Judge Warwick McKinnon ruled that naming the man would embarrass his family.

The 45-year-old from Upper Norwood pleaded guilty to 20 charges of making and possessing indecent images of children.

Experts had retrieved 59 pictures from his PC and a further 215 from his laptop.

Judge McKinnon imposed a community order coupled with a three year supervision programme.

Freelance journalist Bill Bailey challenged Judge McKinnon’s decision to place a ban on identifying the man in open court at Croydon Crown Court on Monday. But the judge said revealing his identity would seriously affect the man’s family.

Croydon Advertiser editor Ian Carter described the decision as ‘perplexing’ and added: “It is vital that courts conduct their business as openly as possible. Being identified in the media is often as much of a deterrent as the court sentence.”

Croydon Guardian assistant editor Danny Brierley said: “The certainty that paedophiles face being named and shamed in court is surely something that acts as a deterrent to anyone considering engaging in such damaging behaviour.”

The Guardian is in talks with its legal advisers on how to take the matter further.

Back to the law index