20/03/2017 Spotlight

bigger problems to deal with. Join me to find out more now

A consultant paediatrician from Devon is tonight beginning

a three year jail term for viewing and sharing child sex images

which a senior police officer says are amongst the worst

47-year-old Jonathan Walsh, who'd worked at North Devon District

Hospital, admitted 17 charges of making and distributing

None of the charges relate to patients in his care.

The Hospital says it sacked him once he was charged.

Not keen on being photographed as he went into court today, but Doctor

Jonathan Walsh in the red jacket was very keen to see indecent images

of young children on his home computer.

When officers raided his family home in Barnstaple they found

27 computer files which showed the most serious types of abuse of

Over a four-month period, 24 of them had been distributed in a

This was the equivalent of 18 hours of

He also tried to cover his tracks by using programmes to wipe

These are all Grade A images which are on the highest

level of indecent images and investigating officers said they

were some of the worst images she had seen on film.

They are real children at the end of this that are

suffering every day, to satisfy the desires

of people who are looking at

The court was told that his wife was standing by him

but he now realised what he had done was wrong.

In a statement North Devon District Hospital said that

this case has deeply shaken everybody and has been a shock to

We have worked closely with the police and we now

know none of these crimes relate to contact

offences and none of the

images relate to patients of a hospital.

Last month a senior national police protection officer

said that paedophiles who view indecent images but go no further

should not be jailed as forces can't cope with the huge rise in reports.

But a leading children's charity welcomed today's prosecution.

Clearly there needs to be something done to

prevent people committing these offences in the future.

And we would certainly want to see far more in

terms of prevention to insure that children aren't abused in this way

and these images aren't available to be downloaded by anybody.

As he jailed Walsh for three years the

judge told him, you went to considerable lengths to disguise

To state that your sexual interest in children

which underlines these offences, causes concern with regard to the

position you held, is a massive understatement.

He has already had to move from North Devon due to the

fallout of the case, tonight his destination was prison.

There are calls tonight for urgent action from the government

by families of people murdered by offenders on probation.

A BBC investigation has found new evidence of relatives of such

crimes being kept in the dark over reports which they

In 2015, Sarah's brother was beaten to death by an offender on parole.

The BBC has established an internal review was carried out

by the probation service, but that is news to Sarah.

It was only when I got a phone call from the BBC that it was the first

I had ever heard of the family having any access to the probation

report, or indeed that there was a probation report

It doesn't let us get on with our lives in the way that you need to.

It was a similar story for the family of Plymouth

He was murdered two years ago by knife obsessive Donald Pemberton.

A report was also carried out into the killing.

The family were only given a summary after more than a year

It's just totally, totally frustrating and upsetting.

The emotional feeling that they're keeping information from you that

should be out there for everybody to know, it's just totally unfair.

Mrs Sharpe has now asked the Justice Secretary to intervene

and help get the full report released into Pemberton's

The Minister has said she will review the matter.

You've just got this strong desire to know why it happened,

You know, that something so bad should happen.

In the south-west, most probation services are run

Working Links told us that they never withhold summary

reports and that it is the job of Devon and Cornwall Police

to liaise with families over that information.

However, in the case of Sarah's brother, the police told us they had

no record of being notified that a report existed.

Sarah says that lack of clarity has added to her suffering.

She remains determined to find out why her brother died.

The only care home on the Isles of Scilly is closing.

The Islands Council says recruiting difficulties means it's unable

to ensure a minimum safe level of staffing at Park

Relatives have two months to move their loved ones .

It will be devastating because I'm going to use

the word banishing, but

The patients will be banished to the mainland,

and their families will not be able to visit them easily.

Cornwall Council is calling for a Minister or senior civil

servant to be appointed to champion the Cornish.

It's made the call to the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid.

The Council of Europe has criticised the way the Government

is meeting its obligations to the Cornish as a newly

A man who "cruised" residential areas of Devon looking for items

to illegally flytip, has been jailed for twenty months.

Martin McDonagh would approach homeowners uninvited

and offer to take away their waste for a cash sum.

Instead he left a trail of debris including hazardous asbestos waste

in some of the most sensitive rural sites in the county.

McDonagh failed to turn up to Plymouth Crown Court

and a European Arrest Warrant has been issued.

It is now a familiar sight in our countryside.

The beauty spots were fly-tippers can illegally dump rubbish

But look at how much devastation one man can cause.

18 separate sites across three local authorities were used

by Martin McDonagh over more than a year.

One victim who was ripped off by the serial fly-tipper also faced

a fixed penalty notice served by the local authority

I was heavily pregnant, I was moving out of my dad's flat

and trying to start a new, fresh life, new home, new family

I wanted everything gone, sorted and I couldn't do that.

He knows how to work people to get what he wants.

He can come across as the most friendliest person in the

In sentencing, the charge said Martin McDonagh would pester home

owners who were then charged money and then he was in a habit of coming

He said his manner was persistent and threatening.

He showed no regard for the environment and he

showed no regard for the land owners, local authorities who have

Martin McDonagh's van has been crushed and

If only he had taken this approach with his work.

Time to take a look at the weather. It is not very springlike? No.

Tonight it will be cool, clear skies at the moment, temperatures already

starting to drop. A cooler feel to this week, we will see some sunshine

but also heavy showers particularly over the next few days, and like

today most of the week will be rather breezy. We have had this cold

front through today, a couple of hours of rain, the skies are

starting to clear and a bit of breeze overnight tonight and that

will feed into a few showers. We're in for a showery day, still rather

breezy, some early spells of sunshine and showers tomorrow likely

to be heavy with the risk of some head and thunder too. Now we will

see much lighter winds on Wednesday, I think we will see a spell of wine

for a time. Some sunshine during the afternoon, and I think with those

lighter winds it will feel less cold compared to tomorrow. Thursday

largely dry, this weather front could pose a few problems. In parts,

we will see some showers, the best of the dry and bright weather.

Friday high-pressure building and that settles things down and warms

things up a little bit. As we head towards the weekend. Now at the

moment we have got temperatures dropping already, down for still

quite breezy and that will feed a few showers and it just shows how

cold the areas, we have still got this breeze and yet temperatures

could be down as low as two or three degrees so the potential for a bit

patchy frost first thing tomorrow Roura Lee. Some sunshine first

thing, very quickly we will see showers heavy at times with risks of

heavy rain and thunder and I think the showers will become more

widespread into the afternoon. Generally feeling cooler especially

with that wind. Quality spots hitting nine or 10 degrees.

Thank you very much for joining us, if you're out and about tomorrow, to

wrap up warm. Thank you very much, goodbye.