July 21, 2011

Whitstable ‘art’ excuse paedophile Martin Fisher jailed

A PAEDOPHILE who described his collection of indecent images of children as ‘art’ has been jailed for 15 months after admitting a string of child sex offences.

Ex councillor Martin Fisher, of Queens Road, Whitstable, was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court today after earlier pleading guilty to five counts of sexual assault, three of which were against a girl under 13, and possessing and making indecent images of children.

Three additional offences of indecent assault on a child under 14 will remain on file.

When initially questioned by police, the 61-year-old denied the sexual assaults but admitted accessing and printing indecent images of children and paedophilic stories.

Fisher told officers he did not accept the material was indecent, insisting that it was artistic.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Richard Allen said: “When Fisher was arrested and interviewed he admitted accessing and printing the images and stories but he said he didn’t accept they were indecent – he felt they were artistic.

“In fact he said during the course of one interview, ‘Some people like Picasso. I like pictures of children with no clothes on.’”

Fisher was arrested after a 15-month investigation by the East Kent Public Protection Unit, based at Canterbury Police Station.

Det Con Allen said: “We arrested Fisher in April 2010 after one of his victims reported the offences. During the course of the investigation computers, video cameras and cameras were seized from Fisher’s home in Whitstable and his business address in Sittingbourne.

“We found indecent images of children and paedophilic stories that had been downloaded from the internet on both on his home and business computers. Paper copies of indecent images were found in the office at his home and copies of paedophilic stories were discovered underneath his bedside cabinet.”

Throughout police interviews Fisher denied the sexual assaults but changed his plea to guilty at a court hearing on Monday, June 20.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham, head of CID at East Kent, paid tribute to Fisher’s victims, who, he said, had been prepared to give evidence against Fisher, should there have been a trial.

He added: “Throughout the investigation Fisher refused to accept he was sexually interested in children, despite using search engines on his computers to look for sites specifically involving sex with children. He maintained that indecent pictures and explicit paedophilic stories were ‘art’.

“He has also since claimed he pleaded guilty to save his victims the trauma of going to court and that he was also a victim in the case.

“We wholeheartedly dispute that. Hopefully, following today’s sentence, he now understands that this behaviour is not acceptable and the only victims in this case are the people he sexually assaulted.

“I also hope the case shows other victims that Kent Police will do everything in its power to bring offenders like Fisher to justice.”

Alongside the 15 month sentence Fisher will stay on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

He was also given a sexual offences prevention order, banning him from working with children for 10 years.