Online kiddie porn: Danish judge jailed

COPENHAGEN: A Danish judge was on Monday sentenced to two months behind bars and three months of psychiatric care for possession and distribution of hundreds of pornographic photographs and films of children, legal sources said.

Joergen Als Andersen, 51, who has children of his own, is the first judge to ever be convicted of a sexual crime in Denmark.

At the opening of his trial last week in Lyngby, north of Copenhagen, Als Andersen confessed to possessing 664 pornographic photos and 93 film sequences and admitted to having distributed them over the Internet.

The prosecution alleged the banned photographs had received 7,598 hits, while the film sequences had been viewed 1,271 times.

Als Andersen claimed his interest in child pornography was an obsession or illness similar to gambling.

"This was an obsession that I had no control over," he told the court last week.

Like any other collector he "burned with desire to get hold of photos missing" from his collection, he said.

The court also ruled on Monday that Als Andersen, who has been suspended from his duties since last March, should be barred from ever again practising as a judge and from working as a lawyer for another year.

The prosecutor has appealed the ruling, claiming the sentence was too lenient. -- AFP