OAP who was caught with child pornography on his computer is spared jail after blaming his addiction on his Parkinson’s medication 

  • Peter Beckett, 69, was caught with indecent images on his computer
  • His lawyer blamed his behaviour on medication for his Parkinson's disease
  • He was given a 20-week prison sentence suspended for two years

A retired executive caught with child pornography on his computer was spared jail after blaming his addiction on side-effects from medication he was taking for Parkinson’s disease.

Peter Beckett, who had a successful career with British Aerospace, found himself in the dock at the age of 69 after police seized his laptop and found indecent images.

However, at Blackpool Magistrates Court, his lawyer blamed his behaviour on a drug he had been prescribed for his Parkinson’s, which has been linked to uncontrollable sexual desires and compulsive behaviour.

Peter Beckett was found with found images of girls, aged between six and 15, in obscene poses, on his computer (stock photo)

Peter Beckett was found with found images of girls, aged between six and 15, in obscene poses, on his computer (stock photo)

Beckett, whose weeping wife watched from the public gallery, was charged after police raided their £400,000 house in Staline, near Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire.

Officers seized his computer and found four images showing girls, aged between six and 15, in obscene poses, the court was told.

As the laptop was taken away, he told police ‘I am not in a ring or anything’, Pam Smith, prosecuting, told the court.

During the first interview, Beckett told police how he had surfed the web for obscene material for about ten years, deleting files to cover his tracks.

In a second interview he said he had been told the drug he was taking for his Parkinson’s, ropinirole, had caused his compulsion to view such images.

His lawyer, Trevor Colebourne, said experts had concluded the medication had made the pensioner hypersexual and unable to control his moral behaviour.

’He should have told someone what was happening to him,’ he said.

‘But he did not want to come off the drug because it was helping him come with the debilitating effect of his medical condition.’

He added: ‘It has been established and there are warnings that this type of drug causes hyper-sexual behaviour and lack of control.’

At Blackpool magistrates court, his lawyer blamed his behaviour on a drug he had been prescribed for his Parkinson’s

At Blackpool magistrates court, his lawyer blamed his behaviour on a drug he had been prescribed for his Parkinson’s

Mr Colebourne said while the side-effect did not amount to a defence against his criminal behaviour, it did provide some mitigation, adding: ‘His coping mechanism failed him.’

Beckett, who admitted downloading four indecent images of young girls, was given a 20-week prison sentence suspended for two years.

District Judge Jeff Brailsford told Beckett he had taken account of all the factors in the case including the drug’s side-effects.

‘I do not accept there was a defence of automatism even though it might follow it did induce hyper-sexuality,’ he added.

Beckett was placed on a three year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, ordered to forfeit his computer equipment and pay £585 costs.

According to one study, one in seven Parkinson’s patients taking drugs like ropinirole reported impulsive behaviour such as increased libido, compulsive gambling and shopping addiction, in some cases blowing their life savings and wrecking their marriages.