Andy Bull has left his role as a freelance consultant for the National Council for the Training of Journalists after it was discovered that he had a past conviction for downloading child pornography.
The NCTJ said that it was unaware that Bull, a former deputy editor of the Sunday Express, had served a three month jail term in 2004 and has said that it considers the lack of disclosure as a breach of trust.
Bull was recently appointed co-ordinator of a consultation on the future role of press photographers and photojournalists that was set up to create more up-to-date photojournalism training.
A spokesperson for the NCTJ said: “It was brought to the attention of the NCTJ yesterday that Andy Bull, a freelance consultant, served a prison sentence in 2004 for convictions related to internet child pornography.
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“We regret that these matters were not brought to our attention by Andy Bull and under the circumstances have decided it is not appropriate for him to have a future involvement with the NCTJ.”
Bull was arrested in March 2003 as part of Operation Ore, the national investigation which began after the FBI gave Scotland Yard details of thousands of British credit cards that had been found on a US web site connected with child pornography.
Bull left Express Newspapers shortly after his arrest by mutual agreement and claimed he had nothing to hide. He was later found guilty on four counts of “making an indecent photograph of a child” and sentenced to serve four three month jail term.
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Since his conviction, Bull has been open about his past, having written an detailed account of the experience for the The Times Saturday Magazine.
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