By Lucy Caulkett-
Disgraced former Labour MP Eric Joyce has been handed a suspended sentence after admitting to making an indecent image of a child.
The 59-year-old former army major, who served as MP for Falkirk for more than a decade, received an eight-month sentence, suspended for two years, and also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
The ex-shadow minister had a 51-second film on a device depicting “penetrative sexual abuse of very young children”.
Joyce, of Worlingworth, Suffolk, who was on bail after being arrested in 2018, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Ipswich crown court to the offence, which took place between August 2013 and November 2018. Joyce was ordered to sign the sex offender register after his admission.
Sentencing on Friday, Mr Justice Edis said: “You have pleaded guilty to an offence which involves the possession of a category A film of a little less than a minute’s duration.
“That film showed the penetrative sexual abuse of very young children. That these acts of abuse happened is because there are people like you who want to watch these films.
“If there was no market, those children wouldn’t be subjected to these very serious offences.”
But, the judge, added: “You have sought help from people well able to provide it and there’s evidence before the court that that has had an effect on helping you reduce, perhaps completely, your impulsive behaviour, and that’s happened over a significant period due to the delay in these proceedings.”
Trouble
This is not the first time, the former Mp has been in trouble with the law. Eric Joyce has been fined £3000 but avoided jail after pleading guilty to a drunken assault on four politicians in a parliamentary bar on the 22nd February.
He was given a 12 month community order – banning him from entering pubs and licensed premises for three months – and imposed with a curfew order from Friday to Sunday.
The 51-year-old former soldier reportedly went berserk without provocation after declaring:”There are too many f** Tories in here”
Edis additionally sentenced Joyce to a sexual harm prevention order, lasting until further order of the court. The ex-MP was also given an 18-day rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £1,800.
At a court hearing in July, Judge Emma Peters said the offence had crossed the custody threshold. She said the film, found on a device, “depicts a number of children”. “Some are quite young, one is said to be 12 months old,” she said. “Clearly a category A movie.” The judge added: “At the time he was drinking heavily and he has now undergone work with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and a psychotherapist.”
Shadow Minister
Joyce served as shadow minister for Northern Ireland from June until November 2010 before resigning from the post after being banned from driving for a year when he admitted failing to provide a breath test.
Joyce left Labour to serve as independent MP in 2012, before stepping down before the 2015 general election. He spent 21 years in the army, rising to the rank of major.
Only last month, former Tory MP Charlie Elphicke was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women. The father of two, who represented the Kent constituency of Dover from 2010 until 2019 was found guilty of assaulting a parliamentary worker in 2016, and one in relation to a woman at his family’s central London home in 2007. He is due to be sentenced in September.
In 2018, shamed Mp Andrew Griffiths, was forced to resign after texting 2,00 messages to two women. He attempted to excuse his behaviour by referring to mental health issues sparked by sexual abuse in his childhood.