Former Lib Dem Councillor Admits To Child Porn Offences, Sentencing Next Month
Former senior Lib Dem councillor Ryan Langley has been told he will likely face jail time when he is sentenced next month over a series of sex offences against children.
Langley, 34, the former deputy leader of Hull City Council's Liberal Democrat group, pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court on Friday to causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child.
Langley left the party and admitted to three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of distributing them. All the offences took place between 2019 and 2021, whilst Langley was a Lib Dem Councillor.
He has been remanded in custody until his sentencing on October 6th, with Judge John Thackray KC warning him he should "expect custody as the most likely outcome".
The Langley case follows similar shocking crimes committed by left-wing Councillors in recent months.
Two weeks previously, Labour councillor David Graham was arrested in Scotland and charged over alleged child grooming offences. Anas Sarwar's 'Scottish branch' of the Labour Party suspended Councillor Graham, a senior figure on Fife Council who held a prominent position on the cabinet.
Graham, 41, is a Labour councillor for Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss villages, Fife's representative at Cosla, and is also a non-executive director on the board of NHS Fife. The Labour councillor is due to appear in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court 'at a later date', police have confirmed.
Also this month, Labour mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville, temporarily stood down and faces calls to quit, after he was caught lying that he had cut ties with his former flatmate and Labour Councillor colleague Tom Dewey.
It was earlier reported that Tom Dewey, 36, was charged as part of an NCA investigation into child abuse photographs found at his home. He briefly served as a councillor in Hackney before resigning over the incident – attempting to hide the true reason by citing 'personal reasons.'
After years of Labour campaigning, Dewey was elected as a councillor for the De Beauvoir ward in May 2022. However, a month before he was elected to the council, in April 2022, NCA officials detained him at his Hackney house before releasing him while the case was being investigated.
As with most resignations relating to one of their politicians, the national Labour Party failed to disclose the reason behind his suspension – worryingly concealing Dewey's paedophilia from the local public.
Mr Dewey was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, possession of extreme pornographic images and possession of prohibited images of children.
In court, the former Labour councillor admitted a charge of making five Category A indecent images of children on 29 April 2022 in Hackney, a further charge of making four Category B indecent images on the same date, as well as making 203 Category C indecent images of children on the same date.
Dewey also admitted to possessing 78 extreme pornographic images of children on 29 April 2022, and having 1,523 prohibited images of children in his possession on or before 20 January 2022.
Dewey's resignation triggered a by-election which saw Joseph Walker elected in July last year, with 758 votes out of 1,822. Appearing in court last week for sentencing, prosecutor Margia Mostafa told the court "On April 29, 2022, NCA officers received four cyber tipline reports identifying the user of an online Google account. The user had uploaded indecent prohibited images of children to his online storage."
NCA officers went to his home in north London and seized two laptops, two tablets and a hard drive containing 249 indecent images of children, including five in the most serious category involving sadistic abuse.
Dewey had also downloaded 78 extreme pornographic images involving violence and graphic injuries as well as sex with animals, and 1523 CGI and cartoon images involving the sexual abuse of children.
The court heard the images had been downloaded between 2008 and April 2022, with the last ones being saved two days before his arrest.
Dewey, now living in a cottage in Petersfield in Hampshire, pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children, possessing extreme pornographic images, and possessing prohibited images of children.
However, despite his long history of paedophilia, the judge shockingly decided to spare the former Labour Councillor from serving a prison sentence. He will instead only be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.