An internationally renowned artist has been given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, after being found guilty of a string of sexual offences against former child models.
Sentencing Graham Ovenden at Plymouth crown court, Judge Graham Cottle told Ovenden: "There can be no doubt that at that time you had a sexual interest in children."
Ovenden, 70, who studied under the pop artist Sir Peter Blake, was convicted of six charges of indecency with girls and one allegation of indecent assault.
During his trial earlier this year Ovenden fiercely denied a sexual interest in children and claimed his images of naked girls were all about celebrating the innocence of childhood.
For decades Ovenden lived and worked at Barley Splatt, an estate and neo-gothic mansion deep in the heart of Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. It was here some of his victims claimed he had committed offences against them in the 70s and 80s.
Ovenden denied that he had assaulted any of the children, who were as young as six. He claimed he was the target of a witch-hunt and his images of children were all about capturing them in a "state of grace".
But a jury found him guilty of seven offences earlier this year.
The indecent assault relates to the touching of a girl's breasts through her clothes.
One of the indecency counts involves an incident in which he got into a bath with the same girl and asked her to touch him.
The other indecency charges relate to photographs he took of two other girls.
Defending, Christopher Quinlan QC told the court that Ovenden had suffered a blow to his reputation. Some of his works had been removed from display by the Tate.
Quinlan said: "There has been a deal of publicity about these matters. Shame has been visited upon him."
The barrister also pointed out that Ovenden was 70 and had been in poor health.
Judge Graham Cottle argued that the offences relating to photography should be regarded as a course of conduct rather than isolated incidents.
Among supporters of Ovenden in court was the explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, who also lives on Bodmin Moor.
this is the official cover up of the pedophiles and their network, osit.
Here: [Link]we read :
"The story goes back nearly 20 years back when 'police from the Child Protection squad...searched his Cornish home and packaged up hundreds of images of naked children they considered to be obscene...
...Fifteen years later the police were back with another search warrant, and this time he was charged with having indecent images of children on his computer. He was acquitted.
...Only now, after his conviction, are some observers finding a new significance in Ovenden leaving London for Cornwall in 1975 and founding with a group of fellow artists the so-called Brotherhood of Ruralists which took a traditional, backward-looking view of art."
And it's still ongoing. Now, he was given "a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years", which means that he was essentially let go free again.
Too many powerful friends, perhaps?
Just one example, here: [Link]:
"That other “Elite” paedophile, Lord Alistair McAlpine, owned a collection of Ovenden “art” that included nude pictures of under-age girls. He must have known this trial was going to happen, because he tried to “dump” his collection anonymously via the art trade."
Some things Ovenden said: here, for example, [Link]
"If Christ was to walk this Earth again and utter those quite wonderful words, 'Suffer little children to come unto me', he would probably be arrested as a paedophile and crucified."
"My reputation is impugned but in the art world fame and infamy are the same thing – look at Oscar Wilde. One of my paintings sold well at auction three weeks ago. It hasn't buggered up my market at all..."
Well, I'm sure. There are plenty of pedophiles and deviants of all sorts who would love his 'art'. Interestingly, he compares himself to Oscar Wilde who's life and views on sexual behavior described in "Caricature of Love" [Link]