Meehan abandons child porn appeal

Karen Matthews' former partner today abandoned his appeal against conviction for downloading indecent images of children.

Craig Meehan, 23, was due to appeal at Leeds Crown Court against his conviction for possessing child pornography in relation to 49 indecent images which were found on his computer.

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC allowed the appeal against two of the images and Meehan abandoned the appeal against the remaining charges.

David Orbaum, representing Meehan, said the prosecution was offering no evidence on the two images due to an agreed basis of facts.

Mr Orbaum said: "The appellant accepts that he searched the internet for, and then downloaded, adult pornography on to his computer.

"As a consequence of these searches, indecent images of children were downloaded, all of which were deleted."

In September last year, Meehan was found guilty at Dewsbury Magistrates' Court of 11 counts of possessing indecent images of children.

The trial heard that the images ranged from level one to level four - on a scale where one is the least serious and five the most.

Today, Judge Marson quashed Meehan's conviction against one count, involving a level three image, and against one level one image.

Meehan was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison following his conviction last year but was immediately released from custody after spending 166 days on remand.

The former fishmonger was charged after the abuse images were found on his personal computer by officers searching for nine-year-old Shannon Matthews.

Shannon, now 10, went missing on February 19 last year as she walked home from school.

Her mother, Karen Matthews, 33, and Meehan's uncle, Michael Donovan, 40, were convicted at Leeds Crown Court of the kidnap and false imprisonment of Shannon and perverting the course of justice.

Bespectacled Meehan appeared in the dock today wearing a light-blue hooded top and dark jacket.

Following the brief hearing Judge Marson told him he was free to go.