Eric Joyce pleads guilty to offence of making indecent image of child

[RoyalCorgi]

Looks like he might go to jail.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/07/ex-labour-mp-eric-joyce-faces-jail-after-admitting-child-abuse-image-offence

I’ve been following this for a while. I’m just incredibly confused. I saw IK defending him when he got arrested for an assault, but this is just extraordinary. I was expecting some kind of defence, but no, he’s plead guilty.
Are they still together?

Oh I see, it was via a spam email, which is kind of what I was expecting him to say.

Very interesting to see IK go on a massive rant on Twitter about how awful it is for the women abused by Epstein just this weekend and at the same time appears to have stuck by Joyce through years of his horrendous behaviour.

Who on earth is IK?

which he says was a spam email”.

Fanthorpe, yes spam email so totally not his fault. Plus he was “drinking heavily and he has now undergone work with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and a psychotherapist”. So all good, eh?!

@youhave4substitutes India Knight absolutely awful woman and his long term partner

youhave4substitutes India Knight, his wife. Journalist/columnist

It says he admitted to making the image?

That’s what I don’t understand @slipperywhensparticus How can it be something that came through to his spam if he actually made it? Absolutely awful to read there was a 12 month old in it. I hope he’s going away for a very long time

Given it was 'spam email' and he claimed his earlier assault on a teen was justifiable, the cynic in me says he trotted off to the Foundation and psychotherapist so his team can say no point in prison as he's already rehabilitating. I bet suspended sentence.

It’s always that defence, or doing research or unwittingly stumbled on etc etc. He’s a very unlucky man isn’t he, all those people fighting him, sending him category A child abuse footage, being drunk.
Making an image doesn’t necessarily mean you set it up, filmed it or took a hand in making it. It means you downloaded it to your device. But it all supports child abuse.

@Fanthorpe

It’s always that defence, or doing research or unwittingly stumbled on etc etc. He’s a very unlucky man isn’t he, all those people fighting him, sending him category A child abuse footage, being drunk. Making an image doesn’t necessarily mean you set it up, filmed it or took a hand in making it. It means you downloaded it to your device. But it all supports child abuse.

Not exactly on point, but I was really surprised to see on BBC iplayer the original series of The Thick Of It, that starred the actor who similarly unwittingly saved a load of images of CSA whilst doing "research". He was sacked and replaced with a new character. Made the old conspiracy theory brain cells crackle (the BBC and the agenda they have been pushing on gender/sexuality these last few years).

Yes Olive he was who I was thinking of.

If it was spam email, most of us would know not to click on it. So obviously he did click on it, it was downloaded to his computer and then at some point it was discovered (I don't know who by).

If it was all an unfortunate accident, he wouldn't have needed to do the therapy, would he?

Well yes, exactly.

If I was an ex MP I think I might have let someone know what happened, in order that the sender might possibly be traced, the images investigated and some children’s images being removed from the internet.

Nice to know it wasn't his fault.
Just how much agency does he think the victims have?

Someone’s edited his wiki entry pretty sharpish to say he’s a sex offender (he was required to sign the register).

agree that this being an unfortunate one-click accident doesn't square with the therapy, which to be successful requires acceptance of one's offending, nor the alcoholism as attempted mitigation. I also thought the legal position was that loss of judgement is an entirely foreseeable consequence of intoxication, so this should not be viewed as mitigation.

There's a very good piece in the Mail today:

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8499753/ANDREW-PIERCE-final-shame-violent-ex-major-bragged-touch-Im-MP.html

Also has an explanation of what happened, which wasn't in the Guardian story:

"Joyce, who has a string of convictions, admitted searching for child abuse images on the internet while he was having problems with alcohol. Ipswich Crown Court heard that he claimed the vile footage arrived on his computer in a spam email – but confirmed he was aware of it."

It is amazing this isn’t a bigger story. A former MP commits the most abhorrent crime.

I've noticed that Knight's columns haven't been in the Sunday Times for about three or four weeks.

It’s not a big story because IK is a media darling.

She has a lot of clout and no one wants to piss her off.

Yes, it did strike me that the reporting on this has been surprisingly coy and it's been up to the reviled Daily Mail to reveal enough of the story to properly inform the public.

The spam email thing is bullshit. People don't send category A child abuse videos (i.e. the kind of stuff that puts you straight in prison) to random people on the internet. Why would they?

I don't know much about India Knight but I hope she's ok.