Edinburgh crime: Child porn offender Benjamin Grant escapes jail sentence after breaching ban on mobile phone
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
A pervert office worker was chased through an Edinburgh chartered accountants by plain clothes police officers after he was caught with an illicit mobile phone.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBenjamin Grant made a run for it after the officers turned up to check his phone after he had been previously banned from owning devices capable of accessing the internet. Grant was convicted of possessing a haul of indecent images of children after police had raided his former home in Sheffield, England in 2020.
The 27-year-old was found to have downloaded 252 pictures of children being sexually abused by adults including 105 rated as Category A - the most depraved end of the spectrum. Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told Grant he found it “astonishing that a young man with a promising life - who is intelligent - should be standing in the dock of a crown court facing sentence for a crime of this kind”.
The judge sentenced Grant – who also has a conviction for stalking – to six months of custody suspended for two years and placed him on a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). His name was also added to the Sex Offenders Register for seven years during the sentencing hearing at Sheffield Crown Court last year. One condition of the SHPO is that Grant, formerly of Sighthill, Edinburgh, is not allowed to own any device capable of accessing the internet without prior permission.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe has now escaped a jail sentence for a second time after admitting to breaching the conditions of the SHPO by possessing and attempting to conceal an iPhone without permission.
Grant was in the dock for sentencing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday, October 31, after previously admitting to the three offences including possessing and attempting to conceal the phone from police. Sheriff Ian Anderson told Grant he was “very much on his last chance” and issued a community payback order as an alternative to custody.
The sheriff sentenced Grant to an 18-month social work supervision order as punishment for attempting to conceal the mobile phone. Grant was admonished on the two charges of possessing the device and failing to notify the police.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdLast month fiscal depute Jennifer McLaren told the court police visited Grant while he was working at a chartered accountants’ office at Haymarket Yards in Edinburgh on July 26 last year. The court heard officers had made the visit after “receiving intelligence” that “two handsets were linked to Mr Grant’s account” but he had denied to them he owned a mobile.
Ms McLaren said the two plain clothes officers were then forced to chase Grant through the office when he “started to run away” from them into a nearby building. The fiscal said: “Officers were concerned he was attempting to conceal a phone or device within the building. Officers saw Mr Grant run past a fire door window and chased him and he stated the reason he began running was he felt sick and had to go and vomit.”
The court was told Grant was caught and arrested and he had subsequently admitted to “concealing an iPhone in the fire escape”. Ms McLaren added Grant, who currently lives in Brough, Yorkshire, later confessed to officers he had owned the mobile phone since October 2021 and “apologised to police for lying”.