THE PICTURE of a disgraced former Mayor of Malvern who was convicted for downloading more than 1,000 indecent images of children has been taken down from the town council chamber.
Former councillor Will Richards had presented the case to take down the picture of Julian Roskams, who was given a 16-month suspended sentence at Worcester Crown Court on March 20 for possessing child pornography, at full council on Tuesday, April 4.
Between August 31, 2011 and July 23 last year, Mr Roskams, who was Mayor from May 2013 to May 2015, had downloaded the indecent pictures which included 283 ‘category A’ images, the most serious, as well as 346 ‘category B’ images and 529 ‘category C’ images.
It had been suggested at the full council meeting by Coun Ian Hopwood that the matter should be discussed behind closed doors at the next full town council meeting on Tuesday, May 23, as the issue was not planned on the agenda.
This had been agreed by Mayor Coun Cynthia Palmer.
But in a dramatic U-turn the picture has since been removed from the chamber.
“It’s a shame it has taken a prompting to get the photo taken down as it should have been done automatically,” Mr Richards said.
“What is also a shame is that even though I suggested to take the picture down, they have not had the courtesy to let me know or the public that they have removed it from the chamber.
“The council should have been all over the issue from the start and trying to distance themselves from it to show they felt about the awful criminality.
“They have done the right thing now but gone the wrong way about it and it’s just a shame it has taken someone to shake the tree to get any action.”
Former town councillor Mike Charles backed Mr Richard’s plan to take down the picture, telling the Observer on April 12 that it was ‘disgusting’ that it was still hanging on the wall and ‘smiling down’ at everyone.
Coun Roger Yates also echoed Mr Richards’ sentiments and said at the full council meeting: “We should take that photo down, leave it blank and simply put a note up which says between ‘x’ and ‘y’ this person was Mayor.”
Malvern Town Council were unavailable for comment.
