Darryl Burnside

File:Darryl Burnside.jpg

Darryl Burnside is a retired police officer from Oban in Scotland. Once hailed as a hero, at the end of his career he was caught with Child Pornography.

Background

Burnside was 50 at the time of his conviction, and living at 45 Nant Drive in Oban. He joined the police on March 21, 1998 and in 1990 began working in Oban where he remained throughout his career. In 1996 Burnside and three colleagues received a top award from the Chief Constable in Glasgow after saving a 62-year-old man from a fire in Oban. He also needed treated for smoke inhalation following failed attempts to save an elderly man from a fire in Cawdor Terrace, Albany Street, Oban on December 19, 1995. In 2011 he jumped off the town's Railway Pier late at night to rescue a teenaged boy in difficulty in the sea. He was approaching retirement and posted a profile on LinkedIn calling himself "reliable and confident" and "looking for a new challenge".

Crimes

Online criminal Burnside collected child pornography at the home he shared with his wife from September 13, 2016, to October 13, 2017. An IP address associated with the premises also visited a website used by paedophiles on at least one occasion. He collected three videos rated category A, which is the worst category, and 52 category C, one category B, and three category A images. One video featured a toddler in a nappy in what prosecutors described as "obvious distress". His collection ranged from the youngest children to girls in their early teens.

Downfall

On September 27, 2017 Burnside's IP address was used on a chat forum where a pornographic image of a young girl was featured and this came to police attention on October 11, 2017 as the website was known to them. On October 13, 2017 police from elsewhere in Scotland who did not know Burnside arrived in Oban together with specialist cybercrime detectives to raid 45 Nant Drive where they found Burnside home with his wife and arrested him. His Kindle and Dragon tablets were seized and police quickly discovered child porn. Taken to Oban Police Station and interviewed, Burnside admitted using both devices to look at both adult and child pornography.

Aftermath

Burnside retired following his arrest. He admitted possessing the material at Oban Sheriff Court on August 1, 2018. He has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register and following background reports will be sentenced on September 12, 2018.

Because Burnside hit 30 years of service in March 2018 he was automatically able to retire before entering his guilty plea, leading to anger within Oban and an online petition started asking Police Scotland to take away his pension.