Convicted Celtic view photographer John Cullen finally identified

Copy of case from Scotsman.......

Father who took photos of nude boys walks free
A FORMER photographer who worked with Celtic FC has walked free from court after admitting taking pictures of naked young boys.
By The Newsroom
Tuesday, 25th May 2004, 2:00 am

John Cullen, 49, of Pollokshaws, Glasgow, took children as young as ten back to his flat before persuading them to pose for the camera.
Cullen avoided a lengthy jail sentence and was placed on probation for three years at Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday after he pled guilty to a charge of lewd and libidinous behaviour.
The sentence provoked outrage from one children’s charity after it emerged that none of the boys on the 250 images taken by Cullen had been traced.

A spokeswoman for Children First said: "Behind every indecent image of a child, there’s a real child. Children depend on adults to keep them safe.


"It is essential that the offending behaviour is addressed and that offenders are not released back on to the streets to repeat such crimes against children.
"We must show children that they can come forward to tell about their experiences."
Cullen’s crime was first uncovered in May 2002, when cleaners were sweeping out a room at Celtic Park where Cullen kept his equipment.
The workers discovered a black bin bag and opened it to check if it was rubbish. Instead, however, they found bundles of black and white photos of nude and semi-naked young boys.


Officials at the club immediately called the police, before quizzing the married father-of-two about the photos. He admitted to inviting children to a house in Glasgow in 1982, where he took a series of photographs.
Cullen had first appeared in court last October, but the case was continually adjourned to allow police to try to identify the victims.
Despite prosecutors calling in specialist help from Scotland Yard’s paedophile unit, they still remain nameless.
Procurator-fiscal Liz Ramsey did say, however, it was believed the boys were aged between ten and 13.


Cullen was sacked from Celtic in June 2002. Some of his former colleagues, including Celtic View editor Joe Sullivan and club security chief Ronnie Hawthorn, had been due to give evidence against him.
In court yesterday, Sharon Gardener, defending, said: "This man realises that he has problems in his life and needs the help to address them as soon as possible."
Sheriff Susan Raeburn QC told Cullen: "You will be placed on probation, but breach this order and you will be brought back to court, where a custodial sentence will be passed."
 
250 pictures of nude or semi-nude young boys, all aged between 10 and 13 years old.

Kids that Cullen claimed he'd invited round to his house in 1982 to pose for him for the photos.

Photos sitting in a bin bag in a Store Room at Celtc FC's stadium for twenty years, seemingly untouched until the cleaners found them.

And the Police (even with the assistance of Scotland Yard's special paedophile unit), were not able to identify even one kid.


Questions -- were the photos ever checked for fingerprints (to see who else may have handled them) ?

How can this guy have invited 250 boys back to his house in one calendar year (that averages at about 2 boys every three days) without it being noticed ?

Are we really to believe that not one of those boys could be identified ? A specific age range, in one year. Was Cullen pursued further as to how he met these boys ??

And of course ... a black bag of nude photos of young boys just happens to surface at the one football club in the world where you'd sadly expect it to.
Taken by the official Club Magazine Photographer.


How on earth did this guy only get probation ?
 
Here is another photo of Cullen (On the left)
An interesting side note is that Cullen would arrange many Celtic quiz nights and these would include a certain guest
The very impartial High Keevins

He was very involved at Celtic - As well as the photography he would also do reports etc

The face on the right looks familiar......writer in the Herald??? (Kevin McKenna?)
 
Byline: By Grant McCabe

A PERVERT photographer was snared when cleaners at Celtic Park uncovered a bin bag full of photos of naked boys. John Cullen,who worked for official club magazine The Celtic View, took pictures of nude and semi-naked youths.

And he was snared after a hoard of the snaps were discovered inside Parkhead stadium.

Cullen's antics went unknown for almost 20 years, Glasgow Sheriff Court heard.

In May 2002, cleaners had been clearing out a storeroom where the 49-year-old kept his camera equipment.

They discovered a black bag and opened it to check if it was rubbish.

But they were left sickened when they found bundles of pictures of young boys. They showed the youngsters in various states of undress, with some completely naked.

Celtic chiefs were alerted and they called in the police.

Cullen, of Pollokshaws, Glasgow, was probed about the 250 pictures.

He admitted inviting the boys to a house in Glasgow in 1982 before getting them to pose for the camera.

The snaps were locked away in his Parkhead store-room for years with him thinking they would not be found.

Despite the help of Scotland Yard's special paedophile unit, the identities of the youths, reckoned to be aged 10 to 13, were never discovered.

Cullen was dismissed from Celtic Park in June 2002.

He admitted lewd and libidinous conduct and will be sentenced next month.

A spokesman for Celtic said: 'We condemn criminal behaviour of this kind.'

lSix years ago, ex-Celtic Boys' Club chief Jim Torbett was jailed after being found guilty of sexually abusing three young players in the 60s and 70s.

CAPTION(S):

SHAMED: John Cullen
 
Byline: GRANT MCCABE By JAMES TAIT

CHILDREN'S campaigners hit out last night after a Celtic FC photographer who stashed pictures of naked boys at the club's stadium dodged jail.

John Cullen, who worked for official club magazine The Celtic View, took children aged 10-13 back to a house before making them pose for the camera.

The pervert was only caught 20 years later when Celtic Park cleaners found a bin bag stuffed with the photos in a room where he kept his equipment. They alerted club chiefs, who called in cops.

Married dad-of-two Cullen had snapped some of the club's greatest players and memorable moments in a 30-year career.

Yet no one knew of his sordid secret until the photos were found in May 2002.

Cullen, from Glasgow, was sacked and pleaded guilty to lewd and libidinous conduct in March this year. Despite a police search, his victims - who he photogra-phed in 1982 - have not been identified.

Celtic was rocked by a similar scandal in 1998 when former boys' club boss Jim Torbett was jailed for sexually abusing three young players in the 1960s and 70s.

Yesterday, at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Cullen, 49, walked free after being given three years' probation.

Children's groups immediately attacked the leniency of the sentence.

A spokeswoman for Children 1st said: "It is essential that offending behaviour is addressed and that offenders are not released back on to the streets to repeat such crimes against children.

"We must show children they can come forward to tell about their experiences."

CAPTION(S):

SORDID: Cullen hid pictures at stadium
 
Judging by the timeline it looks as if he was brought into replace Hugh Birt, the previous official Celtic photographer who clained he was forced out his job after raising allegations to the hierarchy at celtic park about events at Celtic's boy's club.

It would be interesting to know how cullen got the job.

Was it through a job advert?
Was it via personal recommendation, and if so by whom?
Who interviewed him for the position?
 
These days every police force has a Victim ID officer (usually a civilian) and there is a national database of images of children who have been photographed or abused by paedophiles and the photos have been seized by the police and uploaded to the database.

Wouldn’t take much to get all the images in this case uploaded and get the children identified and also to see who else has been in possession of the images.
 
I’m afraid this thread has been destroyed and diverted from its original purpose by posters who simply won’t keep on topic.

It will now be closed and purged.

At a later time it will be opened to allow new material to be added.

Despite being told it seems some are incapable of behaving themselves.

47 messages deleted.
 
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It'd be better if people focused on the facts, which are damning enough, rather than continually posting flights of fancy.

The sentence handed down, although many will see it as lenient, is entirely in line with what could be expected. It is impossible to comment further without knowing exactly what was said in the agreed narrative provided provided by the procurator fiscal depute and mitigation given on behalf of the accused by his agent.
 
Cullen was so brazen about the lack of scrutiny at the Chamber of Secrets that he was happy to store his sordid cache of photos at that den of iniquity.
That in itself says so much about the culture and mindset at CFC/CBC. Behaviours which would be deemed heinous acts of gross indecency and depravity in normal society appear to be acceptable in the dark and sinister corridors of Celtic Park.
 
You wonder about the justice system in Scotland given his "conviction"

Did I read on the other (main) thread that some of the pictures were far more recent than "20 years old" as the story put out seems to regularly suggest.
 
Byline: By Grant McCabe

A PERVERT photographer was snared when cleaners at Celtic Park uncovered a bin bag full of photos of naked boys. John Cullen,who worked for official club magazine The Celtic View, took pictures of nude and semi-naked youths.

And he was snared after a hoard of the snaps were discovered inside Parkhead stadium.

Cullen's antics went unknown for almost 20 years, Glasgow Sheriff Court heard.

In May 2002, cleaners had been clearing out a storeroom where the 49-year-old kept his camera equipment.

They discovered a black bag and opened it to check if it was rubbish.

But they were left sickened when they found bundles of pictures of young boys. They showed the youngsters in various states of undress, with some completely naked.

Celtic chiefs were alerted and they called in the police.

Cullen, of Pollokshaws, Glasgow, was probed about the 250 pictures.

He admitted inviting the boys to a house in Glasgow in 1982 before getting them to pose for the camera.

The snaps were locked away in his Parkhead store-room for years with him thinking they would not be found.

Despite the help of Scotland Yard's special paedophile unit, the identities of the youths, reckoned to be aged 10 to 13, were never discovered.

Cullen was dismissed from Celtic Park in June 2002.

He admitted lewd and libidinous conduct and will be sentenced next month.

A spokesman for Celtic said: 'We condemn criminal behaviour of this kind.'

lSix years ago, ex-Celtic Boys' Club chief Jim Torbett was jailed after being found guilty of sexually abusing three young players in the 60s and 70s.

CAPTION(S):

SHAMED: John Cullen
That will have sickened Grant McCabe having to write that. A more bitter 19th Century Terrorist bastard you’ll struggle to meet.
 
250 pictures of nude or semi-nude young boys, all aged between 10 and 13 years old.

Kids that Cullen claimed he'd invited round to his house in 1982 to pose for him for the photos.

Photos sitting in a bin bag in a Store Room at Celtc FC's stadium for twenty years, seemingly untouched until the cleaners found them.

And the Police (even with the assistance of Scotland Yard's special paedophile unit), were not able to identify even one kid.


Questions -- were the photos ever checked for fingerprints (to see who else may have handled them) ?

How can this guy have invited 250 boys back to his house in one calendar year (that averages at about 2 boys every three days) without it being noticed ?

Are we really to believe that not one of those boys could be identified ? A specific age range, in one year. Was Cullen pursued further as to how he met these boys ??

And of course ... a black bag of nude photos of young boys just happens to surface at the one football club in the world where you'd sadly expect it to.
Taken by the official Club Magazine Photographer.


How on earth did this guy only get probation ?
As heinous as Cullen's actions were this casts an even more sinister shadow. It is inconceivable that not one boy could be identified out of the hundreds of photos found. Yet again suspicions that this goes right to the heart of the Scottish establishment are raised. Surely (and I know it has been said many times before) there can be no other way for justice other than a fully independent investigation? History will not be kind to those who stand in the way.
 
As heinous as Cullen's actions were this casts an even more sinister shadow. It is inconceivable that not one boy could be identified out of the hundreds of photos found. Yet again suspicions that this goes right to the heart of the Scottish establishment are raised. Surely (and I know it has been said many times before) there can be no other way for justice other than a fully independent investigation? History will not be kind to those who stand in the way.
The police compare images seized against a list of "known" images contained in a database accessible to law enforcement world-wide. If the image has never been seen by police before then there is nothing to match it against. It is a harrowing reality that a number of victims of these crimes go unidentified.
 
The police compare images seized against a list of "known" images contained in a database accessible to law enforcement world-wide. If the image has never been seen by police before then there is nothing to match it against. It is a harrowing reality that a number of victims of these crimes go unidentified.
That is scary.
 
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