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Raymond Ma

Prosecution failed to prove husband and father was sole user of home computer with 106 images

A financial manager of  accountancy firm Ernst & Young was  cleared yesterday of possessing   106  child-pornography images on his home computer  because the prosecution failed to satisfy the court he was the sole user and owner of the machine.

Eastern Court magistrate Johnny Chan Jong-herng  said he was 'left with some doubt' whether Philip Godfrey Fallon, 43, had admitted to the arresting officer that he was the only one who used the computer in his Happy Valley residence.

Mr Fallon was  among 18 people arrested  in a  police child-pornography crackdown, code-named Operation Storm Rider,  launched in May.   More than a dozen people have been convicted.

Mr Fallon - who would say only as he left the  court yesterday that he was 'very pleased' with the verdict - is believed to be one of the first  to be acquitted.

The  arrests came after new anti-child-pornography laws came into effect in 2003.

The magistrate said his finding did not intimate  the child pornography images could have been possessed by Mr Fallon's wife or  domestic helper, who also live  at the premises in Happy View Terrace.

The couple also have a young daughter.

'The rest of the prosecution's case makes the defendant highly suspicious, but it cannot be said that [it]  proved up to the required standard that he was the sole user and owner of the computer and was in possession of the child pornography under the complaint,' Mr Chan  said.

The prosecution had said that on May 6 last year, Senior Inspector Ip Ka-yee, formerly with the Commercial Crime Bureau, and three other officers raided Mr Fallon's home with a search warrant and uncovered the child-pornography images.

The woman inspector, who arrested Mr Fallon,  told the court  the defendant had admitted he was the sole user and owner of the computer but she had not recorded it in her notebook.

The other three witnesses did not support her claim.

When police tried to interview Mr Fallon later at the police station, he remained silent,  the court was told.

Defence barrister Kevin Egan denied Mr Fallon had made the admission and said it was made up by the police inspector.

The magistrate said it was 'quite likely' the inspector did not consider the alleged admission to be an important piece of information at the time but only realised it at a later stage.

Outside court, Mr Fallon said he was   pleased  the ordeal was over and that he and his family could  move forward. He declined to comment further.

During Operation Storm Rider, police  co-operated  with enforcement agencies in other countries to shut an overseas child-pornography website.

The website had offices in Britain, the United States and Russia. Records found at the website helped the police trace the men who were arrested.

Penalties handed down in Hong Kong so far  include a $10,000 fine and a three-month suspended jail sentence for a 54-year-old Australian air-traffic controller, and  four months' jail  for a waiter  found in possession of about  3,000  images on his computer.

Possession of child pornography carries a sentence up to five years and a fine up to $1 million.



Finance executive walks free in child-porn case