July 2017 Former chairman of the West Yorkshire Police Authority had a ‘library of child abuse images’ A former chairman of West Yorkshire Police Authority has been jailed for 32 months after building up what a judge described was a “library” of thousands of child abuse images including rape, sadist and torture Neil Taggart, 65, a city councillor for more than 30 years and also former Lord Mayor of Leeds was also chairman of the West Yorkshire Police Authority between 1998 and 2003. Today his life is in tatters and his reputation disgraced as he was ordered to register as a sex offender for life. Leeds Crown Court heard officers executed a search warrant at his home in Garforth, Leeds on September 23 last year while he and his family were abroad on holiday. They seized a desktop computer, five hard drives and two USB memory sticks on which more than 35,000 indecent images had been downloaded. Files recovered also showed he had shared some of the images with other perverts and chatted online and in phone calls with some of them. Taggart admitted three charges of making indecent images of children, three of distributing indecent images, one charge of possessing prohibited images and one of possessing extreme pornography. Anthony Dunne, prosecuting, said 5,488 images including 856 movies were found at Category A, the most serious involving adults and children as young as four and one involving a baby aged eight to 12 months. There were also 4,580 still and moving images at category B and 25,935 at Category C. Also found were 30 images involving adults and animals classified as extreme pornography and 431 indecent computer images, some dating back to 2010. Deleted data suggested it might have gone back to 2007. Jailing Taggart, Judge Robin Mairs said his offending had gone on for a prolonged period. He said: “Behind those arithmetical totals the reality was this, they were children, pre-pubescent children, one was a baby eight to 12 months, who were subjected to penetrative sexual activity with adults. Girls described as aged four to six years of age.” He said some of the children were shown in pain, in distress, restrained or gagged. He added: “You describe how your sexual fantasies or desires were just that fantasies and that they were not real life. Well what makes this offending so serious is that those images were real, they featured real children who suffered real pain and will have to live with the real trauma that created. “Those images are made and distributed because people like you want to see them and want to see them for your own sexual gratification. These are not offences of fantasy they are offences that cause real pain and real suffering.” The judge said images he had distributed were also “of a depraved quality” showing children, some under five, receiving similar in return. “This was the creation of a library of images of abuse,” the judge said. “This was extreme material even by the standards of the depraved scale that exists. “I accept both your personal and public reputation, which at one time was so high in this city, now effectively lies in the gutter.” June 2017 Former Lord Mayor of Leeds distributed indecent images of children A former Lord Mayor of Leeds has pleaded guilty to offences relating to making and distributing sexually explicit images of children. Neil Taggart, who has also chaired West Yorkshire Police Authority, is facing a possible prison sentence after today admitting the charges at the city’s Crown Court Taggart, 65, who served as a Leeds city councillor for 33 years, is currently being held in custody after breaching his bail conditions. Much of Taggart’s offending took place when he was still a serving Labour councillor. Taggart, of Marlowe Court, Garforth, pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images of children, three of distributing indecent photographs of children, one of possessing prohibited images of children and one of possession of an extreme pornographic images. The offending took place between 2007 and 2016. Taggart spoke only to confirm his name and to enter guilty pleas to each of the eight charges. Anthony Dunne, prosecuting, said Taggart had been arrested at the weekend for breaching his bail conditions. Judge Geoffrey Marson, QC, adjourned the case to allow for the preparation of the report. He will be sentenced on July 4. Taggart was returned to custody.