August 2012 Former Cricklade pervert wins fight over sex offender register A PERVERT who took pictures of naked boys as they changed at a swimming pool changing rooms has been told he can stop registering as a sex offender. Former Cricklade man William Pollard escaped a jail sentence in 2006 but was told that he would always be on the sex offenders register. Now he has been told that order will be lifted next year. Because he received a six month suspended jail term, Pollard, now 58, only had to register as a sex offender for seven years. Robin Shellard, representing him, told Swindon crown court it would be unfair to make him continue registering when that time was up. And prosecutors agreed in light of cases heard by the Court of Appeal and did not oppose an application for it to end after being in force for seven years. Judge Douglas Field said the sexual offences prevention order would now expire on June 9, 2013, exactly seven years after he was sentenced. Pollard was caught with a camcorder hidden under his towel as he filmed an eight-year-old boy drying himself after a shower. When police searched his house in Cricklade they found a huge cache of pictures and movies of men and boys who were changing after they had been swimming. At the time Pollard admitted visiting the Oasis Leisure centre and Milton Road Health Hydro during his lunch hour at work to record the footage. He said he always had his camera with him in case the opportunity arose to take pictures of naked men or boys. Pollard, formerly of Pleydells, Cricklade, but now living in Brighton, pleaded guilty to voyeurism and making seven indecent images of children between 2003 and 2005. The order, which now just has ten months to run, was initially ordered to continue ‘until further order’ and limits his contact with children under 16. It also bans him from schools, leisure centres and children’s play areas and carries a jail term if broken. He has since completed Sex Offender programme and has not re-offended since his arrest in September 2005. Jan 2012 Pervert who filmed naked boys asks to stop registering as sex offender A PERVERT who was caught filming naked boys in swimming pool changing rooms wants a court order stopped so he will not have to keep registering as a sex offender. William Pollard, 58, was caught with a camcorder hidden under his towel as he filmed an eight-year-old boy drying himself after a shower. When police examined Mr Pollard’s home in Cricklade they found a large cache of pictures and movies of men and boys changing after they had been swimming. Then when he was questioned he admitted alternating between the Oasis Leisure centre and Milton Road Health Hydro during his lunch hour at work. He said he had his camera with him in case the opportunity arose to take pictures of naked men or boys. Pollard escaped a jail term in 2006 after admitting the offences, but he was put on a sexual offences prevention order restricting his liberty. It limits his contact with children under 16 as well as banning him from schools, leisure centres and children’s play areas and carries a jail term if broken. Because he was put on a six month suspended sentence he was told he must register as a sex offender for seven years, ending in May next year. But as long as the sexual offences prevention order remains in place he will remain on the register, which requires him to notify the police where he is living. Robin Shellard, for Pollard, told Swindon crown court it was unfair his client should have to continue to register after seven years because of the order and asked for it to end at the same time. He said he had successfully completed the Thames Valley Sex Offender programme and not re-offended since his arrest in September 2005. Mr Shellard said even if the court agreed and reduced the time he spent having to register to seven years there would still be more than a year to run. He said “Parliament said he should register for seven years. The sexual offences prevention order should run in tandem with that.” But Judge Euan Ambrose refused to amend the sentence saying “The question is whether the sexual offences prevention order should continue. “My judgement is it should continue. I am afraid the notification will have to run alongside that.” Pollard, formerly of Pleydells, Cricklade, but now living in Brighton, pleaded guilty to voyeurism and making seven indecent images of children between 2003 and 2005. He was caught after a father showering with his sons, aged eight and 13, spotted a lens poking out from under a towel in another swimmer’s bag. After he was arrested the memory stick of the camera and his home were searched by the police, where it was found he had also downloaded child porn from the internet. They uncovered numerous images taken in changing rooms, including many of fathers and sons in states of undress. The court heard he admitted carrying out similar activities five years earlier but stopped before resuming following the break.