THE actor Chris Langham was last night beginning a ten-month jail term for downloading child pornography.
The 58-year-old Bafta award-winning star, whose arrest came at the height of his success, accessed videos of prepubescent children.
Langham, who broke down in tears during his sentencing hearing at Maidstone Crown Court, claimed that he was resea
rching a paedophile character for a television drama. He also said he wanted to look into the eyes of the abusers to make sense of the sexual abuse he had suffered as a child.
But he was convicted by a jury last month of 15 counts of making an indecent photograph of a child between September and November 2005. The videos lasted a total of 42 minutes - two were classed as level five, the most serious level of images, while a further five were level four.
Judge Philip Statman said: "Some of the children viewed are clearly prepubescent, others are fully developed, some of the children are clearly of Filipino extract.
"All have had inflicted upon them horrifying sexual abuse and, I want to make this absolutely clear to you, I must think first of those children. They are too young to consent. Each of those children is a victim lacking in protection. When one sees their faces, in my judgment, they are vacant and lacking in expression ... you never ever see the faces of the perpetrators.
"Your activity took place in the comfort of your own home, no doubt at the time feeling safe in the knowledge that you would never be caught."
However, the judge added: "There's nothing in the papers before me to indicate that you are a sexual predator in the sense that it is ordinarily used."
Police raided the star's home in November 2005 as part of Operation Ore, an international investigation into child pornography on the internet. Just hours before, Langham had downloaded indecent images of children - as he had done on three other occasions in the previous three months.
Langham, who won a Bafta for his role in the BBC drama The Thick Of It, admitted looking at child porn but pleaded not guilty to the charges because, he said, he wanted to make a public declaration that he was not a paedophile.
His defence was that he was conducting research for the BBC television series Help. Langham said he had created a paedophile character and wanted to explore the way society viewed sex offenders through him.
Outside court, Langham's solicitor, read a statement on his behalf: "The court has confirmed today that I am not a paedophile. It has reached this conclusion having considered reports by social services, the probation service, a senior consultant psychiatrist and an expert in sexual offenders with 30 years' experience.
"If the prosecution had accepted this at the beginning, I would have pleaded guilty. I have always admitted I should never have downloaded those abusive images. I am delighted that, at last, my account has been proved to be the truth."
Langham, who shook visibly when he entered the dock, did not react when the judge handed him the jail term - of which he will serve five months, less 43 days already spent in custody. As he left court, he blew kisses at his three adult sons and his father in the public gallery.
Langham will be on the sex offenders' register for ten years and will be subject to a five-year prevention order.
