False Accusations Devastate British Lawyer

A jury set him free, but publicizing his sex life made him into "roadkill"

One-time City Hall high-flier Simon Walsh was acquitted last week of possessing extreme pornography. The accusations may have been groundless but now that details of his sex life have been splashed across the press his career is in tatters.

Simon Walsh's nightmare began in Tesco, as he stood clutching four cans of lager and a packet of loo roll. He's not sure how police tracked him down to this small City supermarket near the chambers where he practises as a barrister, but it was here that he was arrested, in full view and hearing of the other shoppers, on suspicion of possessing child pornography.