Ex-MI6 agent put porn on police computer

[Matthew Gaylor]

TUESDAY AUGUST 21 2001

Ex-MI6 agent put porn on police computer
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001290847,00.html

BY JOANNA BALE

A FORMER MI6 agent is facing prison after he admitted yesterday downloading
pornographic images of children on to his office computer while working at a
police headquarters.

Alan Coates, 53, a Cleveland police communications manager, was found with
hundreds of explicit pictures of young girls and boys.

Coates, who is married, had earlier stood trial at Newcastle Crown Court on
15 specimen charges of making indecent photographs of children. The jury
failed to reach a verdict and a fresh trial was fixed for November. But
after protesting his innocence for more than three years, Coates pleaded
guilty yesterday to three charges from the original indictment.

The father of two, whose civilian responsibilities matched those of a
superintendent, linked up to pornographic sites using the "America on Line"
service and created personal electronic files on the system to store the
images.

Graham Reeds, for the prosecution, told the court that the charges related
to 34 images found on Coates's laptop computer which had been created in
June 1998. Mr Reeds said: "They were deliberately saved so that he could
have them for his own gratification and purposes."

Coates, of Redford, Bishop Auckland, who will be sentenced on September 14
after the preparation of reports, was granted unconditional bail.

He worked for the British and American Governments for more than 30 years as
an expert in the art of bugging and surveillance techniques. In the mid-80s
his expertise had become so great that he was drafted into MI6, where he was
involved in "extremely sensitive" government work. He was vetted in 1967,
1976 and 1980, the checks failing to reveal his weakness for child
pornography.

The computer images were discovered during an administrative check while
Coates was in Berlin on business.

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