Tory Party Councillor for Coventry City, Peter Stidworthy was arrested and charged with Indecent Assault of a 15-year old boy.
Stidworthy, aged 47, of Lyndale Road, Whoberley, Coventry, admitted indecent assault on a 15-year-old boy, 21 charges of making indecent images of children and one charge of possessing an indecent image.
The bus driver for Travel West Midlands represents the Whoberley area of Coventry for the Conservative Party.
Judge Marten Coates heard how Stidworthy had picked up a teenage male prostitute at a coach station and indecently assaulted him.
The charges involving indecent images only came to light after the councillor reported a theft at his Whoberley home, he took his computer into a shop for repair where the technician found the images. It was revealed that on his computer he had downloaded 4,065 images of boys. Later investigations showed that he had visited internet pornography sites on 20,000 occasions.
In mitigation, Steven Bailey told the court "To describe Mr Stidworthy as obsessed or predatory to children is an over statement of the case." he added "The indecent assault is an isolated case which occurred with a male prostitute who said he was 17. There was no element of corruption and my client had never used his position to corrupt young people."
Mr Bailey added that there was no question of Stidworthy ever distributing the images or using them for commercial gain.
Stidworthy was described as a man "unable to reach out for kindness and contact in the way other people might."
The judge told Stidworthy "The law has changed recently to show its abhorrence of these offences. People who pay to visit these pornography sites are therefore leading to children being corrupted and abused so people like you can be gratified and satisfied."
Disgraced Tory councillor Peter Stidworthy was today jailed for 21 months after admitting a string of child sex offences. In addition to the prison sentence Stidworthy was ordered to register under the Sex Offenders Act and at the end of his sentence he has been ordered to attend a sex offenders course. He will also be under an extended period of licence for three years and forbidden from working with children aged 16 and under. His conviction at Warwick Crown Court today means that he automatically ceases to be a member of the city council.
Whoberley's ex-Councillor's Child Porn Shame
A disgraced former Coventry city councillor has been given a six month suspended jail sentence for downloading hundreds of child porn images. Peter Stidworthy, 53, appeared at Coventry Crown Court yesterday (thurs). The images were found when he took his computer into a shop for repair.
The former Tory councillor, of Lyndale Road, Whoberley, had earlier admitted five charges of making indecent photos of children and three charges of being in possession of indecent photos of children. In total he admitted downloading 204 still images and 10 videos of children, as well as possessing 206 still images and nine moving images. The images were classified as being level one and level two. Level five is the highest classification.
Stidworthy had been forced to quit as a Tory councillor six years ago after being convicted of indecent assault and making indecent images.
Theresa Thorp, prosecuting, said "When he took his computer in for repair in May 2007 200 images of children were found. A search of his home which followed recovered two DVDs with a similar number of images. There was also a DVD of images and a DVD with movies. The way in which the defendant had arranged them on the computer showed some level of sophistication. He used Privacy Guardian, a programme which securely deletes the history of the user. He arranged for Privacy Guardian to clean his internet history every two days, which is why there is a lack of history of usage."
Steven Bailey, defending, said Stidworthy was currently working in a shop where he was highly regarded. He said he had suffered physical and verbal abuse and was recently assaulted by his neighbour, because the community knew about the case.
Mr Bailey said "He acknowledges the interests and proclivities he has been labouring under and they are something of an addiction. But he has not acted on it and the treatment he has received has at least taught him to recognise temptation and step away from it. It has not stopped him from offending at all but it has decreased the level of offending."
The judge ordered the images and computer to be destroyed. Stidworthy is also prevented from having a camera or mobile phone, will have to attend a community sex offending programme and was ordered to pay £350 in costs.
In 2002, when he was Conservative councillor for Whoberley, Stidworthy was jailed after pleading guilty to indecent assault on a 15-year-old male prostitute and 21 charges of making indecent photographs of children.