BBC’s ‘Help’ Star Sentenced for Downloading Child Pornography

British comedian, Chris Langham, faced 10-months imprisonment, as announced on 15 September 2007, following his indictment and proving him guilty of downloading child pornography from the Internet.

Court convicted the award-winning actor and the main attraction of the BBC's show "The Thick of It" on 15 counts of child pornography in the month of August 2007. The actor engaged himself in watching online videos of juvenile girls being sexually tortured and abused.

According to the police, Langham downloaded sadistic images, two of which showed a girl, 8-years old, who was tied up and sexually exploited by her father. Timesonline.co.uk published this on 15 September 2007. It was also found that Langham unsuccessful attempted to download different other child porn films.

But during an investigation, the actor presented a statement in writing saying that he had downloaded those images to do a research on a character for the show "Help" in BBC2 television.

Langham also said that he was "depressingly normal" for the male of his age and that he was a regular watcher of adult porn from online sources. Theage.com.au published Langham's statement on 15 September 2007.

Detective Superintendent David Shipley, Kent Police, while speaking outside the Maidstone Crown Court, said that the downloaded pictures and videos depicted "despicable" abuse on children. Theage.com.au published this in news on 15 September 2007. He added that the judge was able to recognize offenders like Mr. Langham fuelling child abuse all over the world.

DCI Paul Fotheringham from the Public Protection Crime Unit of Kent Police said that although the actor denied and protested, he was clearly drawn to children sexually. Theage.com.au published this on 15 September 2007.

Police arrested the British star in November 2005 after raiding his home situated in Cranbrook, Kent. The raid was under operation Ore, an examination into pedophiles that pay money for accessing child porn on the American sites. Forensic experts uncovered 12 video films on 3 computers that showed 7-year old girls being raped, tortured and sexually abused. The films spanned over 3 Seconds to 6 Minutes, and were created during September-November 2005.

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