According to a BBC News Online report a British man has been cleared of
storing child pornography on his computer, but says he may sue the
police.
Julian Green, 45, of Torquay, Devon was cleared in court in July
of 13 charges of making indecent images, claiming computer malware
was to blame. His solicitor, Chris Bittlestone, confirmed that
Green was considering legal action against the authorities.
Green's defence counsel Peter Ashman had said during the
hearing: "Mr Green had no knowledge of the images on his computer
... they could have been put there without him knowing about
it."
Green was arrested after 172 indecent pictures of children were
found on his hard drive. During the investigation Green spent nine
days in prison and three months in a bail hostel. Green described
the entire experience as "nine months of hell".
Having been granted legal aid Green brought in Martin Gibbs, a
computer forensics consultant, as an expert witness who identified
11 Trojan horses on Green's computer, capable of carrying out
actions without the user's knowledge or permission.
"I would recommend everyone with a computer to keep anti-virus
programs up to date," said Green.
David Sapieca for the prosecution offered no evidence at Exeter
Crown Court, "We don't accept the conclusions of the defence expert
report but there were already other issues in the case regarding
the history of the computer itself. We cannot show that Mr Green
downloaded the images on to the computer, so the Crown reluctantly
offer no evidence in this case."
Green's acquittal follows the case of another British man, Karl Schofield
of Whitley, who was cleared in April under similar
circumstances.
Schofield, 39, was attacked by vigilantes as he awaited his
court case in Reading. Schofield was accused of creating 14
indecent images of children on his computer, but testimony was
given by a defence witness that a Trojan horse had been found on
his PC. Schofield was subsequently acquitted.
"Some Trojan horses have the ability to take 'remote control' of
your PC," explains Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at
Sophos Anti-Virus. "A remote hacker can view what you are doing,
take over your keyboard, steal information and even upload files to
your computer if they wish. There can be no excuse for home users
surfing the internet not to be running up-to-date anti-virus
software and a personal firewall to keep their systems
protected."
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