Ex-pop star sentenced for child pornography

Derek Longmuir, a founding member of the Bay City Rollers pop group, was sentenced yesterday to 300 hours' community service after admitting possessing child pornography.

Longmuir, 49, drummer with the Scottish band which achieved a string of number one hits in the Seventies, had pleaded guilty to two charges of having indecent photographs,videos and computer disks of children at his home in Edinburgh. He also admitted making indecent photos of children at his home in March 1998.

A total of 22 pornographic videos and 40 computer disks, with 117 images of indecent material, some showing sex involving children, were found when police raided his home in September 1998 after a tip-off.

Longmuir, who has been suspended from his job as a nurse at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, had claimed the indecent material belonged to an American friend.

His solicitor, Robbie Burnett, told the Edinburgh Sheriff Court that Longmuir was "not a paedophile and was not someone who engages in child sex nor somebody terribly interested in child porn". He said that all the videos, indecent photographs and computer disks - bar four files - belonged to the friend who had asked him to look after the material.

"I have had various expressions of support for him and there appears to be no doubt that the health service can ill afford to lose someone as well trained and caring as Mr Longmuir clearly is," he said.

Sentencing Longmuir, Sheriff Isobel Poole said: "A court can only take a very serious view where children are involved and that, after all, is the reason why legislation was passed to protect them."

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh Royal Infirmary said an internal investigation had begun. She said she could not speculate on whether Longmuir would lose his job.