Home News Archive Chris Langham guilty of downloading child porn Chris Langham guilty of downloading child porn
Chris Langham, star of the political sitcom The Thick of It, been found guilty of downloading child porn at his trial at Maidstone Crown Court today.
The jury, which consisted of four women and seven men (one juror having been dismissed), took 2 hours and 40 minutes to find the actor guilty of 15 counts related to the downloading of images.
However the actor has been acquitted of charges of indecently assaulting an underage girl and two counts of a serious sexual offence. He has also already been cleared of four charges of incidentally assaulting a 16-year-old girl between 1996-98.
As the verdicts were returned the 58-year-old actor stood with his eyes closed, but did not react visibly.
The result of this trial will likely rule out any chance of Langham resuming his role of MP Hugh Abbot in the BBC4 sitcom The Thick of It. Armando Iannucci had said previously he hoped to film a new six-part series of the political comedy at the end of the year with Langham, however that was under the assumption the star was cleared of all charges.
No doubt any chances of a second series of Paul Whitehouse's sublime 2005 sitcom Help will also now have to be abandoned. Langham played a key role in the sitcom as the psychiatrist to Whitehouse's various characters.
During the trial Langham claimed the reason he downloaded the images found on his computer was that he was formulating a character for the BBC comedy. However when Whitehouse took to the witness stand he told the court he had no knowledge of such a character.
During his time in the witness box, Langham said he had been the victim of a abuse while on holiday in Canada as a child. He said he did not want to go into any detail, but he felt "deep, deep shame" about what had happened.
Although Langham has been charged with downloading child pornography he has been cleared of all the charges related to indecently assaulting the underage girl who claimed the actor took her virginity at the age of 14 in a London hotel (More details on these charges from Chortle).
In statement read out by his solicitor, Langham said: "I am absolutely delighted my name has been cleared of all the charges I have consistently denied. I have been found guilty on charges I have made admission to from the moment of my first arrest. I am grateful to the jury for their careful deliberation and I would also like to thank the press for their restraint in not making the lives of my wife, children and family difficult during this time and I implore them to continue to grant my family the privacy they need."
Langham will now remain in custody until he is sentenced on September 14th. In the meantime a report will be compiled to gauge what threat he poses to society. The judge has also ordered Langham to sign the sex offenders register.
The BBC have a good background piece on Langham's career
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The British actor Chris Langham has been found guilty on 15 counts of downloading child pornography. A jury of four women and seven men took two hours and forty minutes to reach a verdict at Maidstone Crown Court. Judge Philip Statman said that Langham will remain in custody till his sentencing on September 14.

Langham, 58, from Goldford, Kent claimed that he had been studying porn sites, researching for a character called, "Pedro," for the television series ''Help''. However, co-star Paul Whitehouse claimed he had no knowledge of this research. Langham refused to answer questions about certain images found on his computer.

During his time in court, Langham claimed that he was abused at the age of eight during a holiday to Canada. He also said his brothers and sisters were abused, and that he felt no shame at looking at child pornography. Langham said he pleaded not guilty because he did not want to be labelled a, "Paedophile".

Langham however was cleared of charges of indecently assaulting an underage girl. The girl claimed that Langham took her virginity at the age of 14, but Judge Statman said, "The Crown accepts that there is no evidence to support these particular counts on the indictment."

Langham said, in a statement read out by his solicitor, "I am absolutely delighted my name has been cleared of all the charges I have consistently denied. I have been found guilty on charges I have made admission to from the moment of my first arrest. I am grateful to the jury for their careful deliberation and I would also like to thank the press for their restraint in not making the lives of my wife, children and family difficult during this time and I implore them to continue to grant my family the privacy they need. I am afraid I am unable to comment further until sentence on the 14 September."

Derek Cuff, Deputy Inspector of Kent Police said, "Let us not forget that child abuse images circulating on the internet are real situations involving real children, who are sexually abused for other's gain and self-gratification. Viewing such images simply perpetuates child abuse. The jury had to view some images that had to be selected carefully - but what they saw and heard in evidence is harrowing and disturbing. I think this itself puts some measure of perspective on the level of child abuse we are dealing with."

This will affect the filming of the next series of the satirical sitcom ''The Thick of It'', where Langham plays Hugh Abbot MP. The last two special episodes did not star Langham due to his arrest. Writer Armando Iannucci hoped that if Langham was found not guilty, he would be able to appear in his show again.