LGBT advice centre chief admits to looking at child porn

The boss of a centre offering advice to young LGBT people has blamed his sex addiction for trawling the internet looking for porn.

James Rennie, 38, the former chief executive of the Leith-based LGBT Youth Scotland, admitted he had looked at child porn because pictures had been sent to him by contacts he picked up on a gay dating website and he found them “titillating”.

He is one of eight men standing trial on a number of child porn and abuse charges at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Rennie said: “I have discovered I have a somewhat addictive personality to sex. I just find it difficult and when I am not busy I kind of fall into a pattern of looking for sexual activity of all sorts.”

He told police: “Today I know I have lost just about everything I have worked so hard for a long time. I knew this day was coming.”

Rennie was suspended from his post in December 2007 and resigned in February 2008.

The trial continues.