Crosland, a former Weymouth and Portland borough councillor was found with 873 indecent images of children on his computer, some of which showed young girls performing sex acts with adult males. During the trial he told Hamish Dunlop, prosecuting, that he came across paedophilic websites as he surfed the internet, but claimed he closed them down immediately.
Architectural consultant and former Heroin Addict Crosland, a father of one, was found guilty of 21 counts of making indecent photographs of children and two of possessing indecent images, after a five-day trial at Dorchester Crown Court.
Crosland was arrested after police seized two computers from his home in 2001. The computers contained images of young girls performing sex acts with adult males and girls as young as one being abused. One of the computers also carried an evidence eliminator, which is used to remove deleted files.
Crosland, who first moved to Weymouth for a drug treatment programme, said that he turned to pornography after kicking heroin, buying top shelf magazines and eventually, when he got a computer, looking at porn on the internet. Crosland, who was at the time lecturing in architecture at Weymouth College, admitted being aroused by the pictures of teenage girls.
A jury of five men and six women took one hour and 15 minutes to return an unanimous verdict in Dorchester Crown Court. Crosland stood with his hands on the edge of the dock, showing little emotion as the 23 counts were read out.
Although he had denied trawling the net looking for pornographic images of younger children, stories on the computer had titles such as Campfire, Insolent, Mom's Away, Raped and Scout.
At his sentencing yesterday he finally admitted the charges and vowed to 'Make Amends'. He said: "I would dearly like to accept my culpability in this situation and to go back to being an active member of the community and paying my taxes."
Recorder Claire Miskin said that Crosland's crimes were "at the lower end of the spectrum" of child sex offences and that he was "a professional", adding: "I take the view that no useful purpose is served by sending you to prison." She ordered Crosland to pay £3,000 costs, banned him from living or working with anyone under the age of 18 and placed him on the sex offenders register for five years. He also had to complete what was described as a 'Tough Sex Offenders Course' run by the Thames Valley Police and the NSPCC.