Comedian caught with thousands of indecent images of children is spared jail

Christopher Thomas Binns, whose character is hospital DJ Ivan Brackenbury, pleaded guilty last November to five counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing a prohibited image.

Derby Crown Court heard the 53-year-old was found to have thousands of images on multiple devices.

Binns, who has no previous convictions, was spared jail on Thursday, with Judge Shaun Smith handing him a suspended sentence.

Lauren Fisher, prosecuting, said 104 category A indecent images – the most serious – were found, along with 411 in category B and 34,946 in category C.

The comedian claimed he has “no sexual interest in children” and he inadvertently obtained the images when he “downloaded and deleted a very large amount of adult pornography”.

He was arrested at his home in Calow, Derbyshire, after the National Crime Agency recieved a tip off in October 2020, and 39 devices were seized, including a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and an iPad.

Ms Fisher said: “During the investigation, it was established that a third party of Mr Binns’s partner had been asked to sell several devices on behalf of Mr Binns. Those devices were also checked.”

The devices, including two hard drives, were found to also include thousands of accessible and inaccessible images, including 25,000 inaccessible category C images.

The investigation found all of the indecent images were downloaded between March and November in 2020.

Matthew Hayes, mitigating, said Binns had not committed any other offences since this incident and referenced the impact of prescribed medication his client was taking at the time, but did not fully elaborate in court.

In an earlier statement to the comedy news website Chortle, Binns said: “Over two years ago, while under the influence of an overdose of prescription drugs for ADHD, which induced obsessive-compulsive disorder, I downloaded and deleted a very large amount of adult pornography over a short period of time.

“Within those downloads, it appears there was some child pornography which I had not sought out nor wanted.

“I have no sexual interest in children. I have taken and passed a polygraph stating I have no sexual interest in children.

“I am bitterly upset at the hurt this has caused my family, for which I take full responsibility.

“I will take my punishment for this and hope that my family are not further harmed by my actions.”

Judge Smith said Binns’s offending was “simply unacceptable” but deemed he does not pose a risk to the public, and is unlikely to re-offend.

He gave Binns a combined 10-month sentence, suspended for 15 months, made him the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, and ordered him to sign the sex offender register, both for 10 years.

He said: “You are sickened by what it was that you were downloading and looking at and, quite frankly, you don’t need me to tell you that you should be, because this kind of offending has real victims.

“It is right to say that had it not been for Covid, had it not been for the medication you were taking at that period of time, you would not be before the court, but the fact is that you are.

“You have returned to the law-abiding life that you were living before these offences.”

Binns’s character Ivan Brackenbury was nominated at the Edinburgh Festival for the Edinburgh Comedy Award 2007, and he has also appeared on BBC drama Spooks and Channel 4’s IT Crowd.