A rare insight into the final hours before the charging of a now-convicted paedophile have been revealed in a national television programme.
Kevin Crump, who was 53 at the time of his conviction earlier this year, worked as an IT technician at Loreto College in St Albans for several years as well as being in charge of photography at events there.
More than 45,000 images and videos of child pornography were discovered on a number of his electrical devices, and he was convicted at Luton Crown Court in March.
On Monday (3) night, Channel 4 programme 24 Hours in Police Custody showed the lead up to the arrest, the arrest, and questioning of Crump before he was charged with six offences of making indecent photos of children, three of possessing indecent images of children, possessing an extreme pornographic image and one offence of possessing prohibited images of children.
During police questioning of Crump, he answered the questions in a blunt manner uncharacteristic of paedophiles.
He said: “I could have been clever and kept deleting everything but there was no point. Well I’m saying there’s no point to try and hide it, I wasn’t trying to hide it from the law. It was to hide it from my wife which is, dare I say, typical of people like me.”
A calm and composed Crump later added: “As much as you want people to sit here and say I’m sorry for what I did, I’m sorry for what I downloaded, but like most people I’m sorry that I’ve been caught.”
Prompted by further questioning he said: “OK if you want to hear the life of a paedophile. I look through the Internet, you download the pornography movie, watch it and find that, yeah, you quite like it, whatever kicks in in the brain, that’s for scientists to explain I don’t know.
“So obviously by mistake while I was downloading, it downloaded some images of child pornography. It was interesting, from my perspective and then it becomes almost a drug I suppose. A bit like smoking, taking cocaine, heroin, and you just want to watch more. It’s a mind set for want of a better word, I’m not trying to defend it.”
Having been in the army for 22 years, Crump said that he had learnt the difference between right and wrong, adding: “Hence, why, you know, hands up.”
Despite the admission, he was very keen to point out he had never ‘made’ any films or pictures and never found the pupils at the school sexually attractive.
He added that he had never thought about physically touching a child sexually and never wanted to.
Footage of Crump’s arrest revealed his immediate admission of guilt when police arrived at his home in Houghton Regis, Dunstable.
He said: “Everything they say is true, looks like I’m going to jail for a very long time”
The footage also captured the shock suffered by his wife who was not aware of her husband’s sordid actions.
With her head in her hands, she was filmed saying: “How are we going to tell people?” and “He works in a school”.
Crump escaped prison with a 16 month suspended sentence, much to the dismay of angry Twitter users.
@Nimrod_becky said: “Watching 24 Hours in Police Custody, the sentences they got for having child porn is an absolute joke.”
Another, @spiller69, said: “24 Hours in Police Custody, why do they get a suspended sentence when they’ve confessed!! Lock them up, they’ve done it and admitted it!!”
Despite admitting that his wife should ‘leave him’, Crump now lives with her in South Yorkshire where he cares for his elderly parents.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here