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Langham cleared of assault charges

02/08/2007

Comic actor Chris Langham has been cleared of indecent assault charges but found guilty of downloading indecent images of a child at Maidstone crown court.

The 58-year-old denied all of the charges and the jury retired just after 13:30 BST to consider its verdict.

Mr Langham was charged with six counts of indecent assault, two counts of a serious sexual offence and 15 counts of making an indecent image of a child.

He told the court that he had downloaded the images while researching a role and was not a paedophile.

Judge Philip Statman reminded the jurors before they returned their verdict that "age is of critical importance with regard to the sexual allegations".

He noted that the jury had to be sure the alleged encounters at two hotels in the UK took place when the victim was underage.

The alleged victim claimed Mr Langham had sex with her in his dressing room and a hotel in London and Nottingham.

Detective Inspector Ken Goss of Kent police said the jury saw "harrowing and disturbing" child abuse images during the trial.

"There was an unheard voice in the court today - that of the children who were in those videos," he said.

"Let us not forget that child abuse images… are real situations involving real children who are sexually abused for others' gain and self-gratification. Viewing such images simply perpetuates child abuse."

Senior prosecutor Ken Goss said the images found on Mr Langham's computer were "horrific".

"This prosecution serves as a warning to others who possess, view, or download images of children thinking that they are doing nothing wrong or will not get caught.

Mr Langham is well known for portraying the role of a bumbling minister in the BBC comedy The Thick of It.

He also starred in the comedy Help alongside Paul Whitehouse, who gave evidence at the trial.

Mr Langham will be sentenced on September 14th.

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