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{{Short description|British convicted paedophile advocate (born 1945)}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}} {{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox criminal {{Infobox criminal
| image_name = | image_name =
| name = Tom O'Carroll | name = Tom O'Carroll
| image_size = | image_size =
| image_caption = | image_caption =
| birth_name = Thomas Victor O'Carroll | birth_name = Thomas Victor O'Carroll
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1945}}<ref name="ECHR 2005">{{cite web |url=http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-68690 |title=''O'Carroll v United Kingdom'', Application no. 35557/03 (European Court of Human Rights) |publisher=Council of Europe |date=15 March 2005 |access-date=11 August 2020}}</ref>
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1945|8|8}}
| birth_place = | birth_place =
| death_date = | death_date =
| death_place = | death_place =
| motive = | party =
| motive =
| charge = conspiring to distribute indecent photographs of children, indecent assault against one boy and gross indecency against one other {{citation needed|reason=Daily Mail not an acceptable source|date=February 2017}}
| charge = Conspiring to corrupt public morals (1981), conspiring to distribute indecent photographs of children (2006)
| conviction_penalty =
| conviction_status = | conviction_penalty =
| conviction_status =
| occupation = ] advocate
| spouse = | alma_mater = {{plainlist|
*]
| children =
*]
*]}}
| occupation = {{hlist|Teacher|journalist<ref name="Irish Times 15 December 2006">{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irish-paedophile-faces-sentencing-in-uk-1.800749?mode=amp |title=Irish paedophile faces sentencing in UK |date=15 December 2006 |access-date=11 August 2020}}</ref>|] advocate}}
| years_active =
| employer =
| organization = ]
| known_for =
| notable_works = ''Paedophilia: The Radical Case''
| spouse =
| children =
| other_names = TOC
}} }}
'''Thomas Victor O'Carroll''' (born 8 August 1945) is a British writer (with dual Irish/British citizenship),<ref>D.o.b. and British nationality confirmed in the publicly accessible abstract of a pay-to-view legal page on O'Carroll v United Kingdom in the European Court of Human Rights: . This page also discloses that the ECHR case was in connection with his conviction for importing indecent photographs. O'Carroll's Irish nationality is noted in the Irish Times of 12 December 2006: Irish paedophile faces sentencing in UK</ref> ], imprisoned for ] and the distribution of ], and with multiple convictions for offences against children.<ref name="BBC201206">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/coventry_warwickshire/6196811.stm|title=Two jailed for child porn library|publisher=BBC News|date=20 December 2006|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="bn-paedo"/> O'Carroll is a former chairman of the now disbanded ] (PIE) and was at one time a prominent member of the ] (now known as Ipce). '''Thomas Victor O'Carroll''' (born 1945) is a British writer (with dual Irish<ref name="Irish Times 15 December 2006"/>/British<ref name="ECHR 2005"/> citizenship) and ].<ref name="BBC201206">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/coventry_warwickshire/6196811.stm|title=Two jailed for child porn library|publisher=BBC News|date=20 December 2006|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="bn-paedo"/> O'Carroll is a former chairman of the now disbanded ] (PIE) and was at one time a prominent member of the ] (now known as Ipce).


During the 1970s, O'Carroll lobbied for the legalization of sexual activities between adults and children, as well as against the criminalization of child pornography, in the ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=How a pro-paedophile group lobbied the government to legalise sex with children in the 70s and 80s |url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/paedophile-information-exchange-abuse-report-145503696.html |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=Yahoo News |date=25 February 2020 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Booth |first1=Robert |last2=Pidd |first2=Helen |date=2014-02-26 |title=Lobbying by paedophile campaign revealed |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/26/lobbying-paedophile-campaign-revealed-hewitt |access-date=2023-03-27 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
==Earlier life==
===Paedophile Information Exchange===
O'Carroll was working as a press officer for the ] in the 1970s when he was told of the existence of the ] (PIE) after ] as a paedophile to ] members of the OU Women's Group. At that time, he was editor of the OU staff newspaper ''Open House'' and had been covering a Women's Group meeting on ].<ref>''Paedophilia: The Radical Case'', paperback edition, p. 208.</ref> In his book, ''Paedophilia: The Radical Case'', he writes: "The general public in the UK has long been aware of 'child-molesting' and 'perversion'. But only in the 1970s did it come to hear about 'paedophilia', a designation suddenly lifted from the obscurity of medical textbooks to become a crusading badge of identity for those whom the term had been designed to oppress".<ref name="Wilmers">{{cite web|last=Wilmers|first=Mary-Kay|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v02/n23/mary-kay-wilmers/young-love|title=Young Love|work=London Review of Books|issue=2:23|date=4 December 1980|accessdate=12 May 2016|pages=9–10}} {{subscription required}}</ref>


He has been imprisoned for ] (1981)<ref name=":0" /> and distribution of ] (2006).<ref name="BBC201206" /> In 2016, O'Carroll attempted to join the ] but was expelled.<ref name="exp"/>
His activism with PIE cost him his job at the OU, and he was dismissed in February 1978. O'Carroll appealed to an industrial tribunal which ruled in May 1979 rejecting his complaint as he had placed himself in a position which meant that he could not do his job effectively because of his connection to PIE.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/archive/article/1979-05-05/3/1.html|title=Job Plea by Child Sex Advocate Fails|work=The Times|location=London|date=5 May 1979|accessdate=11 May 2016|page=3}} {{subscription required}}</ref>


==Early life==
At the time O'Carroll sat on the ] (NCCL) sub-committee for gay rights.<ref name="Bindel">{{cite news|last=Bindel|first=Julie|url=http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/6193/full|title=Britain's Apologists For Child Abuse|work=Standpoint|date=September 2015|accessdate=15 November 2016}}</ref> However, NCCL's association with PIE was controversial internally. The Winter 1978 issue of ''Gay Left'' magazine reported that the NCCL executive had voted not to distribute a transcript of O'Carroll's speech to the organisation's 1977 conference in which he had objected to the punishment of sex offenders.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gilligan|first=Andrew|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/10653944/The-right-to-sleep-with-children-was-one-civil-liberty-that-NCCL-supported.html|title=The 'right’ to sleep with children was one 'civil liberty’ that NCCL supported|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=21 February 2014|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref>
O'Carroll grew up in ], attending Whitmore Park Primary School and ].<ref name="Gibbons">{{cite web|url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/former-coventry-teacher-jailed-child-3044074|title=Former Coventry teacher jailed for child porn writes book on Michael Jackson's love of boys|first=Duncan|last=Gibbons|date=13 May 2011|publisher=}}</ref> in 1967 he graduated from ] with a degree in history.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RSgbAAAAYAAJ&q=tom+ocarroll+lancaster+university|title=Paedophilia: the radical case|first=Tom|last=O'Carroll|date=16 October 1980|publisher=Owen|isbn=9780720605464|via=Google Books}}</ref> He worked as a teacher at Henry Parkes Primary School and ] in the 1970s.<ref name="Gibbons"/> As a postgraduate, O'Carroll studied education at ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.williamapercy.com/index.php?title=Tom_O%27Carroll_Biography|title=Error|access-date=14 October 2020|archive-date=12 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012060126/http://www.williamapercy.com/index.php?title=Tom_O%27Carroll_Biography|url-status=dead}}</ref>


==The Paedophile Information Exchange==
Although PIE had campaigned for the ] to be lowered to 4 years old, O'Carroll stated that his personal view is that full sexual relations should be allowed at 12.<ref name=CoatesFury />


O'Carroll was working as a press officer for the ] in the 1970s when he was told of the existence of the ] (PIE) after admitting he was a paedophile to ] members of the Open University Women's Group. At that time, he was editor of the OU staff newspaper ''Open House'' and had been covering a Women's Group meeting on ].<ref name="rad">{{cite book |last=O'Carroll|first=Tom |date=October 1980|title=Paedophilia: The Radical Case|publisher=] |location=]|isbn=0-7206-0546-6}}</ref>{{rp|208}} In his book ''Paedophilia: The Radical Case'', O'Carroll wrote: "The general public in the UK has long been aware of 'child-molesting' and 'perversion'. But only in the 1970s did it come to hear about 'paedophilia', a designation suddenly lifted from the obscurity of medical textbooks to become a crusading badge of identity for those whom the term had been designed to oppress".<ref name="Wilmers">{{cite journal|last=Wilmers|first=Mary-Kay|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v02/n23/mary-kay-wilmers/young-love|title=Young Love|journal=London Review of Books|issue=2:23|date=4 December 1980|volume=02|accessdate=12 May 2016|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{rp|9-10}}
===''Paedophilia: The Radical Case''===
O'Carroll's book, '']'', was published in 1980. "I am not interested in ''why'' I am a paedophile", he writes "any more than others are interested in ''why'' they are 'normal'."<ref name="Wilmers"/> He advocates the normalisation of adult-child sexual relationships, and details his own illicit experiences.<ref name="Wilmers"/>


His activism with PIE cost him his job at the OU, and he was dismissed in February 1978. O'Carroll appealed to an industrial tribunal. The tribunal, in May 1979, rejected his complaint with the reasoning that he had placed himself in such a position through his connection to PIE that he could not do his job effectively.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/archive/article/1979-05-05/3/1.html|title=Job Plea by Child Sex Advocate Fails|work=]|location=London|date=5 May 1979|url-access=subscription|accessdate=11 May 2016}}</ref>{{rp|3}}
O'Carroll asserts his belief that each stage of the sexual relationship between an adult and child can be "negotiated", with "hints and signals, verbal and non-verbal, by which each indicates to the other what is acceptable and what is not... the man might start by saying what pretty knickers the girl was wearing, and he would be far more likely to proceed to the next stage of negotiation if she seemed pleased by the remark".<ref>Tom O'Carroll, , London: Peter Owen Ltd, 1980 (hardback); Boston, Mass.: Alyson Publications, 1982 (paperback). {{ISBN|0-7206-0546-6}}</ref> ] in the '']'' wrote: "Since Mr O’Carroll sees nothing wrong with paedophilia, he isn’t interested in our sympathy; and since his opinion of the non-paedophile world is no higher than the opinion the non-paedophile world has of him, he doesn’t waste time trying to be conciliatory".<ref name="Wilmers"/>


At the time, O'Carroll was sitting on the sub-committee for gay rights of the ] (NCCL).<ref name="Bindel">{{cite news|last=Bindel|first=Julie|url=http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/6193/full|title=Britain's Apologists For Child Abuse|work=Standpoint|date=September 2015|accessdate=15 November 2016|archive-date=6 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806060901/http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/6193/full|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Winter 1978 issue of '']'' magazine reported that the NCCL executive had voted not to distribute a transcript of O'Carroll's speech to the organisation's 1977 conference in which he had objected to the punishment of ]s.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gilligan|first=Andrew|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/10653944/The-right-to-sleep-with-children-was-one-civil-liberty-that-NCCL-supported.html|title=The 'right' to sleep with children was one 'civil liberty' that NCCL supported|work=]|date=21 February 2014|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref>
The book received mainstream reviews which were either scathingly dismissive,<ref>Charles Rycroft "Sensuality from the start", ''Times Literary Supplement'', 21 November 1980</ref><ref>John Rae, "Suffer little children", ''The Times Educational Supplement'', 17 October 1980.</ref> like Wilmers,<ref name="Wilmers"/> or sympathetic.<ref>Maurice Yaffé, "'Age of Consent", ''New Statesman'', 7 November 1980, p. 31.</ref><ref>Eric Taylor "Too young to love?", ''New Society'', 30 October 1980, p. 246.</ref>


Although PIE had campaigned for the ] to be lowered to 4 years old, O'Carroll stated that his personal view is that full ] should be allowed at 12 years of age.<ref name=CoatesFury />
===Conviction in 1981===
In 1981, O'Carroll was convicted for ] over the contact ads section of the PIE magazine and was imprisoned for two years.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/archive/article/1981-03-14/2/3.html|title=Man Jailed For Conspiring to Corrupt Morals|work=The Times|location=London|date=14 March 1981|accessdate=11 May 2016|page=2}} {{subscription required}}</ref> A barrister in the case, ], later a QC and senior circuit judge, wrote about it the following year in ''Rights'', the newsletter of the ] (later Liberty). Thornton was critical of the charges, which he said had been "too remote from any tangible misdemeanour" and he suggested that O'Carroll had been convicted on little evidence.<ref>Peter Thornton, "Unacceptable charges exposed in recent trials", ''Rights'', 6:2, 1982.</ref>


==Since 2002== ==Books==
===Court case in 2002===
In August 2002, O'Carroll was convicted at ] of importing ] from ], which had been found by Customs in October 2001 hidden in his luggage after his arrival at ]. In his packing cases, 94 full-frontal images of naked children aged between 2 and 10 were discovered, apparently taken without their consent or, the judge assumed, without that of their parents. According to O'Carroll, they were equivalent to an art exhibition.<ref>{{cite news|last1=McNeil|first1=Rob|last2=Cheston|first2=Paul|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/paedophile-jailed-over-child-photos-6326728.html|title=Paedophile jailed over child photos|work=Evening Standard|date=8 August 2002|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref>


===''Paedophilia: The Radical Case''===
O'Carroll was sentenced to nine-months imprisonment on three counts.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2183779.stm|title=Obsessed paedophile jailed|publisher=BBC News|date=9 August 2002|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref> The conviction was later overturned in November 2002 by the ] which held that the trial judge had been overly influenced by O'Carroll's campaigning. The photos were described in the ruling as having "the quality of indecency in the context in which they were taken, but were of the kind that parents might take of their children entirely innocently". O'Carroll's name was no longer required to be added to the Sex Offenders register.<ref>, BBC online, 26 November 2002 (accessed 25 June 2009).</ref>
O'Carroll's book ''Paedophilia: The Radical Case'' was published in 1980. "I am not interested in ''why'' I am a paedophile", he writes "any more than others are interested in ''why'' they are 'normal'."<ref name="Wilmers"/> He advocates the normalisation of adult-child sexual relationships, and details his own illicit experiences.<ref name="Wilmers"/>


O'Carroll asserts his belief that each stage of the sexual relationship between an adult and child can be "negotiated", with "hints and signals, verbal and non-verbal, by which each indicates to the other what is acceptable and what is not... the man might start by saying what pretty knickers the girl was wearing, and he would be far more likely to proceed to the next stage of negotiation if she seemed pleased by the remark".<ref>Tom O'Carroll, ''Paedophilia: The Radical Case'', Chapter 3, London: Peter Owen Ltd, 1980 (hardback); Boston, Mass.: Alyson Publications, 1982 (paperback). {{ISBN|0-7206-0546-6}}</ref> ] in the '']'' wrote: "Since Mr O’Carroll sees nothing wrong with paedophilia, he isn’t interested in our sympathy; and since his opinion of the non-paedophile world is no higher than the opinion the non-paedophile world has of him, he doesn’t waste time trying to be conciliatory".<ref name="Wilmers"/>
In 2003, he made an ] on the TV discussion programme '']'' in a BBC revival of the series, featuring ] and ], among others.<ref>{{cite news|last=Cozens|first=Claire|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/mar/04/digitaltv.broadcasting|title=BBC braced for paedophile row|work=The Guardian|date=4 March 2003|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref>


At the time of its release, the book received mainstream reviews which were either scathingly dismissive,<ref>Charles Rycroft "Sensuality from the start", ''Times Literary Supplement'', 21 November 1980</ref><ref>John Rae, "Suffer little children", ''The Times Educational Supplement'', 17 October 1980.</ref> like Wilmers,<ref name="Wilmers"/> or supportive of the author, if not entirely of the "radical case" he had set out.<ref>], "'Age of Consent", ''New Statesman'', 7 November 1980, p. 31.</ref><ref>Eric Taylor "Too young to love?", ''New Society'', 30 October 1980, p. 246.</ref>{{verify inline|date=July 2020}} Sociologist ] described the book as "the most sustained advocacy" of "intergenerational sex", and stated that there were two powerful arguments against O'Carroll's views about the possibility of children consenting to sex: the feminist argument that "young people, especially young girls, do need protection from adult men in an exploitative and patriarchal society" and the argument that while adults are fully aware of the sexual connotations of their actions, young people are not, and that there is thus "an inherent and inevitable structural imbalance in awareness of the situation."<ref>Jeffrey Weeks, ''Sexuality and Its Discontents'', Routledge, London, 1993, pp.225-226</ref> In 2003, ''The Guardian'' described it as "a book justifying the behaviour of those who prey on children."<ref name="Cozens">{{cite news|last=Cozens|first=Claire|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/mar/04/digitaltv.broadcasting|title=BBC braced for paedophile row|work=The Guardian|date=4 March 2003|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref>
===Conviction in 2006===
O'Carroll was convicted in 2006 of conspiring to distribute indecent photographs of children after supplying an undercover ] officer with a cache of child pornography obtained from his co-defendant Michael Studdert's secret vault containing 50,000 pornographic images.<ref name=themet></ref><ref name="BBC201206"/><ref name="Cunningham">{{cite news|last=Cunningham|first=Grainne |url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/irishman-and-exvicar-had-huge-child-porn-cache-court-is-told-26351517.html|title=Irishman and ex-vicar had huge child porn cache, court is told|work=The Independent|location=Ireland|date=16 December 2006|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="IrTimes">{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/irish-paedohphile-campaigner-jailed-in-uk-1.800953|title=Irish paedohphile campaigner jailed in UK|work=The Irish Times|date=20 December 2006|accessdate=18 March 2017}}</ref> O'Carroll said the images with which he was connected had been in his possession for a "very long time".<ref name="Cunningham"/> A new group O'Carroll was involved in running, International Paedophile Child Emancipation Group, and an offshoot, Gentlemen With An Interesting Name had been infiltrated by an undercover police officer. According to the police, O'Carroll considered the groups as an attempt at creating an "international secret society" of "academic" child abusers.<ref name="BBC201206"/><ref name="IrTimes"/>

O'Carroll was ] on 1 June 2006 on child pornography charges.<ref name="bbc21">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/coventry_warwickshire/5367968.stm|title=Pair admit to child porn charges|publisher=BBC News|date=21 September 2006|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref><ref>Olivia Richwald , ''The Northern Echo'', 1 June 2006.</ref> In September 2006, he admitted to two counts of distributing indecent images of children between 1994 and July 2005.<ref name="bbc21" /> On 20 December 2006, he was jailed for 2½ years at ].<ref name="BBC201206"/><ref name="bn-paedo">, breakingnews.ie, 20/12/2006.</ref> O'Carroll was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years and would be prevented from working with children in future.<ref name="IrTimes"/>


===''Michael Jackson's Dangerous Liaisons''=== ===''Michael Jackson's Dangerous Liaisons''===
After a gestation of many years, O'Carroll's book on singer ] was published in 2010 under the pen name Carl Toms.<ref>The identity of Carl Toms and Tom O'Carroll is confirmed in </ref> '']'', concerns the entertainer's intimate relationships with young boys. It was published in the UK by Troubador.<ref> Troubador Publishing Ltd.</ref> O'Carroll's book on singer ] was published in 2010 under the pen name Carl Toms.<ref>The identity of Carl Toms and Tom O'Carroll is confirmed in </ref> The book, ''Michael Jackson's Dangerous Liaisons'', concerns the entertainer's alleged intimate relationships with young boys. It was published in the UK by Troubador.<ref> Troubador Publishing Ltd.</ref>


After publication, ], professor of psychology at Northwestern University, reviewed the book for the academic journal ''Archives of Sexual Behavior''. Describing the author as "an unapologetic pedophile", Bailey observed that the book takes "a pro-pedophilic stance" and argues "persuasively" that Jackson was "almost certainly pedophilic". Bailey wrote, "The idea that pedophilic relationships can be harmless or even beneficial to children is disturbing to many people, including me." But, he continued, "O’Carroll argues against my intuitions and he argues well."<ref>J. Michael Bailey. , ''Arch Sex Behav.'' DOI 10.1007/s10508-011-9842-1</ref> After publication, ], professor of psychology at Northwestern University, reviewed the book for the academic journal ''Archives of Sexual Behavior''. Describing the author as "an unapologetic paedophile", Bailey observed that the book takes "a pro-pedophilic stance" and argues "persuasively" that Jackson was "almost certainly paedophilic". Bailey wrote, "The idea that paedophilic relationships can be harmless or even beneficial to children is disturbing to many people, including me." But, he continued, "O’Carroll argues against my intuitions and he argues well."<ref>J. Michael Bailey. , ''Arch Sex Behav.'' DOI 10.1007/s10508-011-9842-1</ref>


In 2010, O'Carroll's writing was affected following complaints to ] about a book by another author, Phillip R. Greaves, which encouraged sexual contact between adults and children. After a campaign by outraged Amazon readers, Amazon dropped the book, along with several other books that appeared to promote paedophilia, including O'Carroll's earlier book, ''Paedophilia: The Radical Case''.<ref>J. Michael Bailey. , ''Arch Sex Behav.'' DOI 10.1007/s10508-011-9842-1</ref> In 2010, O'Carroll's writing was affected following complaints to ] about a book by another author, Phillip R. Greaves, which encouraged sexual contact between adults and children. After a campaign by outraged Amazon readers, Amazon dropped the book, along with several other books that appeared to promote paedophilia, including O'Carroll's earlier book, ''Paedophilia: The Radical Case''.<ref>J. Michael Bailey. , ''Arch Sex Behav.'' DOI 10.1007/s10508-011-9842-1</ref>


==Convictions==
In April 2018, 'Childhood 'Innocence' is not Ideal: Virtue Ethics and Child-Adult Sex'<ref>{{cite| url = https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12119-018-9519-1|title = 'Childhood 'Innocence' is not Ideal'}}</ref>, a peer-reviewed paper by O'Carroll, was published by Springer in the journal 'Sexuality and Culture'. The paper, which is published on an open access basis, examines and criticises views of pedophilia expressed by A. Malon and ], arguing for an alternative view based on virtue ethics.


===Conviction in 2015=== ===Conviction in 1981===
In 1981, O'Carroll was convicted for ] over the contact ads section of the PIE magazine and was imprisoned for two years.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/archive/article/1981-03-14/2/3.html|title=Man Jailed For Conspiring to Corrupt Morals|work=The Times|location=London|date=14 March 1981|accessdate=11 May 2016|page=2}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
In December 2015, O'Carroll faced charges of indecent assault and gross indecency against two brothers aged 9 and 10. At Caernarfon Crown Court on the second day of his trial, O'Carroll pleaded guilty to one count of indecently assaulting one boy and one of gross indecency with the other. He was formally acquitted of the remaining counts. He was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years, placed on the sex offenders' register for ten years and made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.{{citation needed|reason=Daily Mail not an acceptable source|date=February 2017}}


===Expulsion from the Labour Party=== ===Court case in 2002===
In August 2002, O'Carroll was convicted at ] of importing ] from ], which had been found by Customs in October 2001 hidden in his luggage after his arrival at ]. In his packing cases, 94 full-frontal images of naked children aged between 2 and 10 were discovered, apparently taken without their consent or, the judge assumed, without that of their parents. According to O'Carroll, they were equivalent to an art exhibition.<ref>{{cite news|last1=McNeil|first1=Rob|last2=Cheston|first2=Paul|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/paedophile-jailed-over-child-photos-6326728.html|title=Paedophile jailed over child photos|work=Evening Standard|date=8 August 2002|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref>
O'Carroll joined the ] after ] became party leader in September 2015. When this became public knowledge on 16 February 2016, via a report in '']'', ], the Labour Member of Parliament for ], and other party figures advocated his immediate expulsion.<ref name=CoatesFury>{{cite news|last1=Coates|first=Sam|last2=Bunyan|first2=Bunyan|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4691418.ece|title=Fury as paedophile campaigner is allowed to join Labour party|work=The Times|location=London|date=16 February 2016|accessdate=16 February 2016}} {{subscription required}}</ref> A Labour Party spokesman told ] a few hours later that O'Carroll had been suspended on the basis that he is a "safeguarding risk".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.itv.com/news/2016-02-16/paedophile-campaigner-allowed-to-join-the-labour-party-facing-calls-for-suspension/|title=Labour suspends paedophile campaigner who joined the party|work=ITV News|date=16 February 2016|accessdate=16 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Riley-Smith|first=Ben|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/12159428/Former-chairman-of-the-Paedophile-Information-Exchange-has-Labour-Party-membership-suspended.html|title=Former chairman of the Paedophile Information Exchange has Labour Party membership suspended|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=16 February 2015|accessdate=16 February 2016}}</ref> The next day, the party confirmed that O'Carroll had been expelled.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.sky.com/story/1642967/paedophile-campaigner-excluded-by-labour|title=Paedophile Campaigner Excluded By Labour|publisher=Sky News|date=17 February 2016|accessdate=17 February 2016}}</ref>

O'Carroll was sentenced to nine-months imprisonment on three counts.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2183779.stm|title=Obsessed paedophile jailed|publisher=BBC News|date=9 August 2002|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref> The conviction was later overturned in November 2002 by the ] which held that the trial judge had been overly influenced by O'Carroll's campaigning. The photos were described in the ruling as having "the quality of indecency in the context in which they were taken, but were of the kind that parents might take of their children entirely innocently". O'Carroll's name was no longer required to be added to the Sex Offenders register.<ref>, BBC online, 26 November 2002 (accessed 25 June 2009).</ref>

In 2003, he made an ] on the TV discussion programme '']'' in a BBC revival of the series, featuring, among others, ] and ].<ref name="Cozens"/>

===Conviction in 2006===
O'Carroll was convicted in 2006 of conspiring to distribute indecent photographs of children after supplying an undercover ] officer with a cache of indecent images of children obtained from his co-defendant Michael Studdert's secret vault containing 50,000 pornographic images.<ref name=themet>{{cite web|url=http://cms.met.police.uk/news/convictions/paedophile/men_jailed_for_making_and_distributing_indecent_images_of_children|title="Men jailed for making and distributing indecent images of children" – Metropolitan Police Service<!-- Bot generated title -->|publisher=}}</ref><ref name="BBC201206"/><ref name="Cunningham">{{cite news|last=Cunningham|first=Grainne |url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/irishman-and-exvicar-had-huge-child-porn-cache-court-is-told-26351517.html|title=Irishman and ex-vicar had huge child porn cache, court is told|work=The Independent|location=Ireland|date=16 December 2006|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="IrTimes">{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/irish-paedohphile-campaigner-jailed-in-uk-1.800953|title=Irish paedohphile campaigner jailed in UK|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=20 December 2006|accessdate=18 March 2017}}</ref> O'Carroll said the images with which he was connected had been in his possession for a "very long time".<ref name="Cunningham"/> A new group O'Carroll was involved in running, International Paedophile Child Emancipation Group, and an offshoot, Gentlemen with an Interesting Name, had been infiltrated by an undercover police officer. According to the police, O'Carroll considered the groups as an attempt at creating an "international secret society" of "academic" child abusers.<ref name="BBC201206"/><ref name="IrTimes"/>

O'Carroll was ] on 1 June 2006 on indecent images of children charges.<ref name="bbc21">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/coventry_warwickshire/5367968.stm|title=Pair admit to child porn charges|publisher=BBC News|date=21 September 2006|accessdate=1 March 2017}}</ref><ref>Olivia Richwald , ''The Northern Echo'', 1 June 2006.</ref> In September 2006, he admitted to two counts of distributing indecent images of children between 1994 and July 2005.<ref name="bbc21" /> On 20 December 2006, he was jailed for 2½ years at ].<ref name="BBC201206"/><ref name="bn-paedo">, breakingnews.ie, 20 December 2006.</ref> O'Carroll was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years and would be prevented from working with children in future.<ref name="IrTimes"/>

==Expulsion from the Labour Party==
O'Carroll joined the ] after ] became party leader in September 2015. When this became public knowledge on 16 February 2016, via a report in '']'', ], the Labour Member of Parliament for ], and other party figures advocated his immediate expulsion.<ref name=CoatesFury>{{cite news|last1=Coates|first1=Sam|last2=Bunyan|first2=Bunyan|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4691418.ece|title=Fury as paedophile campaigner is allowed to join Labour party|work=The Times|location=London|date=16 February 2016|accessdate=16 February 2016}} {{subscription required}}</ref> A Labour Party spokesman told ] a few hours later that O'Carroll had been suspended on the basis that he is a "safeguarding risk".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.itv.com/news/2016-02-16/paedophile-campaigner-allowed-to-join-the-labour-party-facing-calls-for-suspension/|title=Labour suspends paedophile campaigner who joined the party|work=ITV News|date=16 February 2016|accessdate=16 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Riley-Smith|first=Ben|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/12159428/Former-chairman-of-the-Paedophile-Information-Exchange-has-Labour-Party-membership-suspended.html|title=Former chairman of the Paedophile Information Exchange has Labour Party membership suspended|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=16 February 2015|accessdate=16 February 2016}}</ref> The next day, the party confirmed that O'Carroll had been expelled.<ref name="exp">{{cite news|url=https://news.sky.com/story/paedophile-campaigner-excluded-by-labour-10169900|title=Paedophile Campaigner Excluded By Labour|publisher=Sky News|date=17 February 2016|accessdate=17 February 2016}}</ref>


==References== ==References==
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{{Portal|Criminal justice|England|Ireland|LGBT}}

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Latest revision as of 05:32, 10 December 2024

British convicted paedophile advocate (born 1945)

Tom O'Carroll
BornThomas Victor O'Carroll
1945 (age 79–80)
Other namesTOC
Alma mater
Occupations
OrganizationPaedophile Information Exchange
Notable workPaedophilia: The Radical Case
Criminal chargeConspiring to corrupt public morals (1981), conspiring to distribute indecent photographs of children (2006)

Thomas Victor O'Carroll (born 1945) is a British writer (with dual Irish/British citizenship) and pro-paedophile advocate. O'Carroll is a former chairman of the now disbanded Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) and was at one time a prominent member of the International Paedophile and Child Emancipation (now known as Ipce).

During the 1970s, O'Carroll lobbied for the legalization of sexual activities between adults and children, as well as against the criminalization of child pornography, in the United Kingdom.

He has been imprisoned for conspiring to corrupt public morals (1981) and distribution of child pornography (2006). In 2016, O'Carroll attempted to join the Labour Party but was expelled.

Early life

O'Carroll grew up in Coventry, attending Whitmore Park Primary School and Woodlands school. in 1967 he graduated from Lancaster University with a degree in history. He worked as a teacher at Henry Parkes Primary School and Caludon Castle School in the 1970s. As a postgraduate, O'Carroll studied education at Downing College, Cambridge.

The Paedophile Information Exchange

O'Carroll was working as a press officer for the Open University in the 1970s when he was told of the existence of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) after admitting he was a paedophile to lesbian members of the Open University Women's Group. At that time, he was editor of the OU staff newspaper Open House and had been covering a Women's Group meeting on homosexuality. In his book Paedophilia: The Radical Case, O'Carroll wrote: "The general public in the UK has long been aware of 'child-molesting' and 'perversion'. But only in the 1970s did it come to hear about 'paedophilia', a designation suddenly lifted from the obscurity of medical textbooks to become a crusading badge of identity for those whom the term had been designed to oppress".

His activism with PIE cost him his job at the OU, and he was dismissed in February 1978. O'Carroll appealed to an industrial tribunal. The tribunal, in May 1979, rejected his complaint with the reasoning that he had placed himself in such a position through his connection to PIE that he could not do his job effectively.

At the time, O'Carroll was sitting on the sub-committee for gay rights of the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL). The Winter 1978 issue of Gay Left magazine reported that the NCCL executive had voted not to distribute a transcript of O'Carroll's speech to the organisation's 1977 conference in which he had objected to the punishment of sex offenders.

Although PIE had campaigned for the age of consent to be lowered to 4 years old, O'Carroll stated that his personal view is that full sexual relations should be allowed at 12 years of age.

Books

Paedophilia: The Radical Case

O'Carroll's book Paedophilia: The Radical Case was published in 1980. "I am not interested in why I am a paedophile", he writes "any more than others are interested in why they are 'normal'." He advocates the normalisation of adult-child sexual relationships, and details his own illicit experiences.

O'Carroll asserts his belief that each stage of the sexual relationship between an adult and child can be "negotiated", with "hints and signals, verbal and non-verbal, by which each indicates to the other what is acceptable and what is not... the man might start by saying what pretty knickers the girl was wearing, and he would be far more likely to proceed to the next stage of negotiation if she seemed pleased by the remark". Mary-Kay Wilmers in the London Review of Books wrote: "Since Mr O’Carroll sees nothing wrong with paedophilia, he isn’t interested in our sympathy; and since his opinion of the non-paedophile world is no higher than the opinion the non-paedophile world has of him, he doesn’t waste time trying to be conciliatory".

At the time of its release, the book received mainstream reviews which were either scathingly dismissive, like Wilmers, or supportive of the author, if not entirely of the "radical case" he had set out. Sociologist Jeffrey Weeks described the book as "the most sustained advocacy" of "intergenerational sex", and stated that there were two powerful arguments against O'Carroll's views about the possibility of children consenting to sex: the feminist argument that "young people, especially young girls, do need protection from adult men in an exploitative and patriarchal society" and the argument that while adults are fully aware of the sexual connotations of their actions, young people are not, and that there is thus "an inherent and inevitable structural imbalance in awareness of the situation." In 2003, The Guardian described it as "a book justifying the behaviour of those who prey on children."

Michael Jackson's Dangerous Liaisons

O'Carroll's book on singer Michael Jackson was published in 2010 under the pen name Carl Toms. The book, Michael Jackson's Dangerous Liaisons, concerns the entertainer's alleged intimate relationships with young boys. It was published in the UK by Troubador.

After publication, J. Michael Bailey, professor of psychology at Northwestern University, reviewed the book for the academic journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Describing the author as "an unapologetic paedophile", Bailey observed that the book takes "a pro-pedophilic stance" and argues "persuasively" that Jackson was "almost certainly paedophilic". Bailey wrote, "The idea that paedophilic relationships can be harmless or even beneficial to children is disturbing to many people, including me." But, he continued, "O’Carroll argues against my intuitions and he argues well."

In 2010, O'Carroll's writing was affected following complaints to Amazon.com about a book by another author, Phillip R. Greaves, which encouraged sexual contact between adults and children. After a campaign by outraged Amazon readers, Amazon dropped the book, along with several other books that appeared to promote paedophilia, including O'Carroll's earlier book, Paedophilia: The Radical Case.

Convictions

Conviction in 1981

In 1981, O'Carroll was convicted for conspiracy to corrupt public morals over the contact ads section of the PIE magazine and was imprisoned for two years.

Court case in 2002

In August 2002, O'Carroll was convicted at Southwark Crown Court of importing indecent photographs of children from Qatar, which had been found by Customs in October 2001 hidden in his luggage after his arrival at Heathrow Airport. In his packing cases, 94 full-frontal images of naked children aged between 2 and 10 were discovered, apparently taken without their consent or, the judge assumed, without that of their parents. According to O'Carroll, they were equivalent to an art exhibition.

O'Carroll was sentenced to nine-months imprisonment on three counts. The conviction was later overturned in November 2002 by the Court of Appeal which held that the trial judge had been overly influenced by O'Carroll's campaigning. The photos were described in the ruling as having "the quality of indecency in the context in which they were taken, but were of the kind that parents might take of their children entirely innocently". O'Carroll's name was no longer required to be added to the Sex Offenders register.

In 2003, he made an extended appearance on the TV discussion programme After Dark in a BBC revival of the series, featuring, among others, Esther Rantzen and Helena Kennedy.

Conviction in 2006

O'Carroll was convicted in 2006 of conspiring to distribute indecent photographs of children after supplying an undercover Metropolitan Police officer with a cache of indecent images of children obtained from his co-defendant Michael Studdert's secret vault containing 50,000 pornographic images. O'Carroll said the images with which he was connected had been in his possession for a "very long time". A new group O'Carroll was involved in running, International Paedophile Child Emancipation Group, and an offshoot, Gentlemen with an Interesting Name, had been infiltrated by an undercover police officer. According to the police, O'Carroll considered the groups as an attempt at creating an "international secret society" of "academic" child abusers.

O'Carroll was arraigned on 1 June 2006 on indecent images of children charges. In September 2006, he admitted to two counts of distributing indecent images of children between 1994 and July 2005. On 20 December 2006, he was jailed for 2½ years at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court. O'Carroll was placed on the sex offenders register for ten years and would be prevented from working with children in future.

Expulsion from the Labour Party

O'Carroll joined the Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn became party leader in September 2015. When this became public knowledge on 16 February 2016, via a report in The Times, John Mann, the Labour Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw, and other party figures advocated his immediate expulsion. A Labour Party spokesman told ITV News a few hours later that O'Carroll had been suspended on the basis that he is a "safeguarding risk". The next day, the party confirmed that O'Carroll had been expelled.

References

  1. ^ "O'Carroll v United Kingdom, Application no. 35557/03 (European Court of Human Rights)". Council of Europe. 15 March 2005. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Irish paedophile faces sentencing in UK". 15 December 2006. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Two jailed for child porn library". BBC News. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Paedophile rights campaigner jailed for child porn distribution", breakingnews.ie, 20 December 2006.
  5. "How a pro-paedophile group lobbied the government to legalise sex with children in the 70s and 80s". Yahoo News. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  6. Booth, Robert; Pidd, Helen (26 February 2014). "Lobbying by paedophile campaign revealed". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Man Jailed For Conspiring to Corrupt Morals". The Times. London. 14 March 1981. p. 2. Retrieved 11 May 2016. (subscription required)
  8. ^ "Paedophile Campaigner Excluded By Labour". Sky News. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  9. ^ Gibbons, Duncan (13 May 2011). "Former Coventry teacher jailed for child porn writes book on Michael Jackson's love of boys".
  10. O'Carroll, Tom (16 October 1980). Paedophilia: the radical case. Owen. ISBN 9780720605464 – via Google Books.
  11. "Error". Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  12. O'Carroll, Tom (October 1980). Paedophilia: The Radical Case. London: Peter Owen Publishers. ISBN 0-7206-0546-6.
  13. ^ Wilmers, Mary-Kay (4 December 1980). "Young Love". London Review of Books. 02 (2:23). Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  14. "Job Plea by Child Sex Advocate Fails". The Times. London. 5 May 1979. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  15. Bindel, Julie (September 2015). "Britain's Apologists For Child Abuse". Standpoint. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  16. Gilligan, Andrew (21 February 2014). "The 'right' to sleep with children was one 'civil liberty' that NCCL supported". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  17. ^ Coates, Sam; Bunyan, Bunyan (16 February 2016). "Fury as paedophile campaigner is allowed to join Labour party". The Times. London. Retrieved 16 February 2016. (subscription required)
  18. Tom O'Carroll, Paedophilia: The Radical Case, Chapter 3, London: Peter Owen Ltd, 1980 (hardback); Boston, Mass.: Alyson Publications, 1982 (paperback). ISBN 0-7206-0546-6
  19. Charles Rycroft "Sensuality from the start", Times Literary Supplement, 21 November 1980
  20. John Rae, "Suffer little children", The Times Educational Supplement, 17 October 1980.
  21. Maurice Yaffé, "'Age of Consent", New Statesman, 7 November 1980, p. 31.
  22. Eric Taylor "Too young to love?", New Society, 30 October 1980, p. 246.
  23. Jeffrey Weeks, Sexuality and Its Discontents, Routledge, London, 1993, pp.225-226
  24. ^ Cozens, Claire (4 March 2003). "BBC braced for paedophile row". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  25. The identity of Carl Toms and Tom O'Carroll is confirmed in Michael Bailey's review of the book.
  26. "New Titles Spring 2010" Troubador Publishing Ltd.
  27. J. Michael Bailey. "Michael Jackson’s Dangerous Liaisons" (book review), Arch Sex Behav. DOI 10.1007/s10508-011-9842-1
  28. J. Michael Bailey. "Michael Jackson’s Dangerous Liaisons" (book review), p.3, Arch Sex Behav. DOI 10.1007/s10508-011-9842-1
  29. McNeil, Rob; Cheston, Paul (8 August 2002). "Paedophile jailed over child photos". Evening Standard. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  30. "Obsessed paedophile jailed". BBC News. 9 August 2002. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  31. "Paedophile campaigner walks free", BBC online, 26 November 2002 (accessed 25 June 2009).
  32. ""Men jailed for making and distributing indecent images of children" – Metropolitan Police Service".
  33. ^ Cunningham, Grainne (16 December 2006). "Irishman and ex-vicar had huge child porn cache, court is told". The Independent. Ireland. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  34. ^ "Irish paedohphile campaigner jailed in UK". The Irish Times. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  35. ^ "Pair admit to child porn charges". BBC News. 21 September 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  36. Olivia Richwald "Police charge man over child sex ring", The Northern Echo, 1 June 2006.
  37. "Labour suspends paedophile campaigner who joined the party". ITV News. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  38. Riley-Smith, Ben (16 February 2015). "Former chairman of the Paedophile Information Exchange has Labour Party membership suspended". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
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