Former Council Official's Sentence Remains

22 August 2013, 11:14

A suspended prison sentence, given to an ex-Bournemouth Council education official who admitted downloading hundreds of indecent images of children, will not be changed.

53-year-old Robert Ian Finlay, from Barnes Crescent in East Howe, was handed an eight-month suspended jail term on Friday 16 August 2013.

A review into the sentence followed 15 complaints to the Attorney General, including from Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood. But the Attorney General's Office says it can't refer it to the Court of Appeal because the charge does not fall under its unduly lenient sentencing (ULS) scheme.

A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said:

"We received a number of complaints asking that the sentence handed down to Robert Finlay was considered as part of the unduly lenient sentencing (ULS) scheme.

"However the ULS scheme only applies to a limited number of offences and making indecent photographs of a child is not one of those offences. Therefore it is not possible for the law officers to refer this sentence to the Court of Appeal for review.”