Langham freed from jail
Langham won a Bafta for his portrayal of a hassled government minister in The Thick of It.
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Wednesday, 14, Nov 2007 04:53
Actor Chris Langham is to be freed from jail after the Court of Appeal reduced his ten-month sentence for downloading child pornography, according to reports.
Langham, 58, was first arrested in November 2005 after child pornography videos were discovered on his computers at his home in Cranbrook, Kent.
The arrest came as the actor was at the height of his fame after receiving critical acclaim and multiple awards for his BBC satirical comedy In the Thick of It.
And the Bafta award-winner was jailed at Maidstone crown court in September after being convicted on 15 counts of downloading child pornography.
The court had rejected an appeal in mid-October to cut his sentence to allow him to spend Christmas at home, but today has reduced his sentence to six months meaning he is expected to be released from Elmley prison in Kent this afternoon.
In court he had denied being a paedophile and claimed that he had downloaded the images of child abuse – classified as the most severe level of pornography by police – as research for his BBC1 sitcom Help.
The same jury that convicted him had acquitted him of more serious sexual assault charges against an underage girl, who claimed she lost her virginity to the actor when she was 14.
When asked during his trial to describe himself, Langham had replied: "I am a human being... a work in progress."