Highland-based deputy head teacher with 'fetish' wins court case appeal
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A deputy head teacher caught with a "disturbing" collection of photographs of pupils has won an appeal against a court conviction.
Police officers found nearly 2500 images of primary school children – many topless – on devices belonging to Alan Burns.
The well-liked and respected teacher admitted he enjoyed watching youngsters perform the 'fireman's lift', a wrestling technique where a person is placed over the shoulder of the carrier.
The 59-year-old was found guilty in March of committing a breach of the peace by taking and keeping photos of pupils for his sexual gratification.
Burns, now of Charlotte Court, Nairn, was also convicted of an offence under the Data Protection Act following his trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court.
He avoided a jail sentence but was placed on the sex offenders' register for three years.
He was also given a three-year supervision order, told to do 160 hours of unpaid work and banned from unsupervised contact with children under 16 years.
But on Friday the Sheriff Appeal Court quashed his conviction after ruling he was unfairly treated by police officers.
Burns took the photos between 2013 and 2021 while teaching at a school in South Lanarkshire, but he claimed they were for "entirely innocent purposes".
The images were discovered when police officers were probing a South African website suspected of being linked to child exploitation.
Burns had paid the website for videos and photos.
Police were refused a search warrant for Burns's home in Stonehouse, but still visited him. He freely handed over devices including a laptop and an iPad while insisting there was nothing indecent on them.
A video he'd bought from the website showed two boys wrestling and Burns told the police he had made similar films of pupils at school.
Burns told the officers: "I have had this fetish for a number of years and that is the sole reason I have these videos and pictures."
During the trial, prosecutor Rebecca Clark described the wrestling images as "distasteful and disturbing".
However, it emerged that the police officers hadn't informed Burns of his right to refuse to hand over devices or provide a statement.
Giving the appeal court's verdict, Sheriff Andrew Cubie said the officers had "crossed the line into unfairness".
He added: "The seizure and everything flowing from it was unfair. The convictions in relation to each charge should be quashed."
Sheriff Cubie said that even had the search been lawful the breach of the peace charge should have been thrown out because it lacked a "public element".
Burns was suspended from his teaching post in February 2021 and resigned shortly afterwards.
His solicitor, Andy Brophy, said the consequences of the prosecution had been "significant" for him.
