Nine Images: "Protesting My Innocence"

17^th October 2023

A real friend once told me an ex 'friend' had asked "Is Steve Kidd still protesting his innocence"

I have NEVER protested my innocence. I pleaded guilty to the charge of 'making' 9 indecent images, because, under the letter of the law, I believe I did.

Bearing in mind I would gladly lay my life open, warts ‘n’ all, and compare it to any others who do likewise, confident that on balance it would be positive, that I have definitely desired to make the world a better place, that blah de blah de blah I’m good. That I have made mistakes and done things I regret is way beyond any doubt. That I am sorry for any hurt I have caused to those who do not deserve it, is written.

I am, we all are to a degree, in the invidious position of risking personal loss by declaring our sins. My phone, my computer, and my tablets are overtly monitored by people who have an inordinate ambition for prosecution over efficiency (general welfare). Hell, I have just gone through three court appearances, 120 hours community service, de facto house arrest for 8 months and unquantifiable worry and grief, threatened with custodial sentence and fined £600, at a public expense that I would guess that runs well into the tens of thousands for something so damned obviously GOOD – trying to help people and doing everything reasonably possible to do it with the full understanding of the police and probation service. (NB I appealed and the appeal was upheld)

It is impractical for me, for anybody, to be totally candid. We are forced into being untrue. So forgive me for talking about my prosecution and don’t ask me about things I haven’t been prosecuted for. OF COURSE I have regrets, but I keep saying to myself in all honesty. I hope I’m the same level of bad in 20 years as I have been for the last 60. That would be good. What I have ‘protested’ about my prosecution is

I think I should have pleaded not guilty

The language is misleading (Child = 17 year old, Making = Copying)

That the 9 images had not been looked at for their life on the hard drive (20 months)

That I would not have been prosecuted under many a jurisdiction

I DID NOT WANT those images on that hard drive.

That despite there being no incriminating images on my computer or phone, those two very valuable items have been destroyed with a huge portion of my fekking life’s work.

That my punishment has been absolutely, life destroyingly, inordinate (People kill themselves over such charges, we beat ourselves up). etc. etc. etc.

Fundamentally, at the end of the day, when all’s said and done, if I committed EXACTLY the same crime again, took those 9 images, copied them to a private hard drive or e storage whatever, it would have absolutely zero cost to society bar that miniscule cost involved with energy and hardware production. If I did it a million times over, NOBODY would get hurt

Your children, everybody’s children, people in general, have a safer world with me in it. They would have a better world if I was given free rein. My prosecution has made it less so, to nobody’s benefit.

That is what I’m protesting.

Steve Kidd +44 7462 27 25 52