Eric Joyce: Former Labour MP pleads guilty to child sex offence

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Former Labour MP Eric Joyce has pleaded guilty to making an indecent photograph of a child.

Joyce, who represented Labour for Falkirk between 2000 and 2012, before becoming an independent until his resignation at the 2015 general election, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court today for a pre-trial hearing.

According to the BBC, Joyce was charged last month after being arrested in November 2018. The charge alleged that he had made an indecent photograph of a child – described as a movie file and classified as a Category A image.

Judge Emma Peters said on Tuesday that the single 51-second movie, 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.”

She said Joyce, who appeared at court in person, “says he accesses it via an email which he says was a spam email”, adding: “At the time he was drinking heavily and he has now undergone work with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and a psychotherapist.”

Joyce, of Worlingworth, Suffolk, was granted bail and Judge Peters instructed that a report be prepared before he is sentenced on 7 August. He is also required to sign paperwork acknowledging his presence on the sex offenders register.

A statement published on Joyce’s website last month, after details of the charge emerged, said: “I will make no comment from now until all legal processes are at a close… at that point, I will make a full statement.”

Joyce, a former soldier, resigned from Labour in 2012 after admitting to common assault in a House of Commons bar, later telling MPs “the standard of my conduct fell egregiously below what is required by a member of this House, or indeed anyone, anywhere”.