April 2009 Porn case lecturer returns to work A SHAMED academic caught with more than 1,500 child porn images returns to his £55,000-a-year job at Cambridge University tomorrow. Despite the haul on his computer including 30 ‘level five’ images – the most serious category – Dr Nicholas Hammond avoided jail and was told he could keep his job. Hammond had been living in a flat on Queen’s Road, Cambridge The 45-year-old resigned as a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College in November, but was told he could return to work as a reader, a position attracting a salary of at least £55,259 according to the university’s latest pay scale. He is due to return to his job at the university’s French department, which involves giving lectures, supervising students and conducting research, for the start of the new term tomorrow. The university has come under fire from children’s charity Kidscape for failing to take stronger action. Claude Knights, director of the charity, said: “We don’t feel that the sanctions imposed address the seriousness of the offences. “People who are not in academic safe houses have to face the consequences of their actions. “These are serious crimes and there has to be clearer action which shows the institution understands the seriousness of the situation – we need a strong message to be sent out that there are consequences for people who commit these offences. “When we see someone in a privileged position being protected and cosseted, it is not helpful.” Dr Hammond’s page on the university’s website now lists him as a “reader in early modern French theatre and thought” at its Department of French. He was suspended on full pay by the university, and has been removed from the Caius website. A vacancy for a “Fellowship and college lectureship in French associated with a directorship of studies in modern languages”, covering Hammond’s former responsibilities at the college, is currently being advertised. Hammond was arrested in June 2007 after police raided his home following a tip-off. At Cambridge Crown Court last July, he admitted making, possessing and distributing indecent images, including some of babies as young as two days old. Hammond, who is gay, told the court he had not intended to view the level-five images, only those of teenage boys. He was given a suspended 12-month sentence and a two-year supervision order, as well as being placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register and fined £1,000. A Cambridge University spokesman said: “The decision to allow Dr Hammond to remain in its employment was not one the university took lightly. “The university was mindful of the judge’s views regarding the mitigating circumstances of the case. “These included the judge’s comments that Dr Hammond did not demonstrate a sexual preference for children, had not acted inappropriately towards children or students, and that he should have the opportunity to rehabilitate himself back into society.”