Actor weeps in witness box

Chris Langham has wept in the witness box as he denied being a paedophile, and described how he was abused himself as a child .

He told the court he was ‘arrogant’ to think he could download pornographic images - which he told police were for research for the BBC Two show Help – without facing the consequences.

‘They wanted to convict me on the basis I had an abnormal interest in children, that I'm a paedophile, and I'm not.

‘That part of the crime is a life sentence and that is the part of the crime I did not do.

‘I have to stand up and tell you the truth but I will not stand here and admit a crime I didn't commit.

‘I'd like to make it clear I am not taking the crime I committed lightly. I did it in an arrogant way, I know who I am. And I did a very arrogant thing to not think that the law applied to me.’

He said he had paid to view porn sites for ‘years’, but said he had never seen child pornography – and that his sexuality was ‘depressingly normal for a man of my age.

Giving evidence at Maidstone crown court, he said he had been abused at the age of eight, after his family moved to Canada.

’An incident occurred when I got taken sailing when I was eight in Ontario. I stayed in a tent with this guy. I don't remember his name. He had red hair and red pubic hair.’

He added: ‘I don't want to go into detail if you don't mind.’

He went on to say that he felt ‘deep, deep shame’ about the incident and added: "I hate myself for that.’

Earlier, Langham was cleared of four counts of indecent assault on a teenager after prosecutors agreed to drop the charges during his trial at Maidstone Crown Court.

However, the 58-year-old, from Kent, still faces six counts of indecent assault and two of serious sexual assault, plus 15 counts of making an indecent image of a child in 2005. He denies all the charges.

Judge Philip Statman had directed jurors to formally find him not guilty of the four charges allegedly carried out on a girl under 16 between 1996 and 1998, but told jurors: ‘This in no way affects your consideration of the other counts because you will be looking at the evidence separately in due course.’

Yesterday, he halted proceedings temporarily after a juror sobbed when shown disturbing child pornography allegedly found on Langham’s computer.

The court heard that the individual video clips lasted for up to six minutes and had titles referring to ‘Kiddy 11-year-old’, ‘13-year-old pre-teen underage’ and ‘preteen sex education’.

The case continues.

Published: 26 Jul 2007