Another School Teacher Found Guilty for Child Porn

A Penarth man started serving an eight-month prison sentence following the results of his early April hearing at Newport Crown Count. The man, 45-year-old Paul Bulpin, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images and three counts of possessing indecent images of children. After his arrest on March 2 of this year, Bulpin explained that he downloaded child pornography from the darkweb “out of morbid curiosity.”

He said that he wanted to know why people abused children, made explicit images, and addictively viewed the media. Law enforcement found 374 unique depictions of child pornography on Bulpins’ laptop—most of the pictures showed six-year-old girls. Prosecutors called this a particularly concerning fact as the man worked as a school teacher yet watched videos where the children showed “discernible pain and distress.”

Bulpin explained that he only watched the videos and downloaded the pictures out of curiosity. He said he felt driven after his periodic depression set in. His lawyer, Jeffrey Jones, told the court that Bulpin suffered from diagnosed Aspergers and obsessive compulsive disorder; his mental health provided him no favors, especially with respect to the man’s mood.

“The knock on the door and the process of the court hearing has effectively turned his life upside-down,” Jones said. “He is not going to be able to resume any form of teaching position. He has caused tragedy to himself and those closest to him.”

The defendant’s attorney brought a statement from a child protection charity called the Lucy Faithfull Foundation that spoke in favor of the next man. The letter agreed with both Bulpin and his attorney. “He is ashamed and truly remorseful,” the letter’s author wrote. It verified that the defendant already took counseling regarding his sexual crimes. And as a result, Jones asked for a suspended sentence.

Prosecutor John Warren explicitly disagreed. He explained that the videos displayed children with pain in their eyes and that Bulpin watched regardless. He continued with the explanation and revealed, to the courtroom, the gravity of the material the defendant watched. Forensic analysts found 94 Category A images, 105 Category B images, and 172 Category C images. Category A is the most severe, and to a striking degree for someone who “was employed as a school teacher.”

Judge Daniel Williams agreed with the prosecutor in this case. “Each image is a real child and real abuse is taking place,” he said. “Furthermore,” he continued, “you knew that, yet you went back time and time again to view more.” Judge Williams felt strongly that, despite the man’s lack of prior convictions and mental health report that portrayed the man favorably, the crimes can called for severe punishment.

“This offense is so serious that only a sentence of immediate imprisonment can be justified,” he said. He sentenced Bulpin to eight-months in prison. “Viewing these images – which are records of crimes committed against children – only leads to their proliferation on the internet and more children suffering serious sexual abuse.”