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An innocent man wrongly accused by the police of making and storing child pornography today revealed the devastation he has suffered since his arrest two years ago.

Social worker Mike Whitla, from Bangor, Co Down, was found not guilty 10 days ago at Belfast Crown Court of 15 charges brought against him by the PSNI.

After a forensic investigator delved into his computer files and discovered he could not be guilty, the prosecution failed to offer any evidence against him and the judge directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict on each charge.

But the fall-out from the investigation has created a living nightmare for Mike that has not ended with the verdict.

He revealed today how he was :

suspended from his job working with vulnerable children

forced to come out as a gay man

abandoned by almost all of his friends and

spat on in a shop.

He also revealed how he slumped into serious depression, twice tried to take his own life and wrote five suicide notes to the only people in thew world that he still trusted.

Now the 34-year-old says he wants other people to know how he fell foul of the law despite doing nothing wrong.

Mike said: “I was able to prove I’d done nothing but my life is still in tatters and somehow I’ll have to rebuild it. At least now I know who my real friends are and I can go forward from here. But it broke me and I’ll never be the same again.”

Mike had been a social worker for 10 years, primarily at the Lakewood Residential Care Centre for at-risk young people in Bangor, Co Down, when his life was catapulted into disaster.

He added: “I was very privileged to have a safe and loving childhood and family.

“My entire working life had been dedicated to protecting and helping young people who weren’t as fortunate as me.

“So when I was accused of having indecent images of children, I nearly collapsed.

“Not only is that not part of my personality, the very essence of my career is about protecting people, not hurting them or putting them at risk.”

Mike was at home in Bangor with his mother Aubreen, when 12 officers arrived at the door with a search warrant in October 2013.

They searched every piece of furniture in the house, every room, the attic, sheds and a garage and took computers and phones.

Mike said: “I was sure they had the wrong house so I kept asking them what they were looking for and when they eventually told me, I helped them gather everything up.

“There was an old computer in a cupboard which they hadn’t seen so I gave it to them. And they took an iPad I’d bought the previous day which was charging.

“I’d no problem with the search really because I’d nothing to hide. They said they’d had a complaint and if I’d done nothing wrong, I’d nothing to worry about.

“I was OK with that but I was still a bit anxious to know what they were looking for although I knew the most they’d turn up would be searches were about rugby or golf.”

But Mike, who had not come out to his mother at the time, had not realised that his occasional searches on an over-18 gay website had triggered advert pop-ups that automatically stored deep in his computer.

And seven months after the PSNI house raid, he got the worst news of his life when the police mistook them for child porn.

Mike was arrested by two officers at his home, questioned and charged at Bangor PSNI station with making and storing 71 images of children, ranging in seriousness from grade one to five.

Mike said: “To be honest I thought the officers were coming to give me my computer back and apologise for the confusion. They looked so grim.

“Then they said they were arresting me on child porn charges. I knew there had to be mistake and I got a solicitor to meet me at the station.

“But when she came back into the interview suite after being shown the images, her face was pale.

“In that second I knew something was seriously wrong but I couldn’t work out what it was. I could see my life tumbling into chaos and I didn’t know what to do.

“I kept asking to see the images because there had to be some explanation for them, and after a while the officers agreed to show my the grade five image. I braced myself. I knew from my work with troubled and vulnerable young people that typical grade five images involved abusers with babies. I felt sick. There was no way, just no way but still, these men were police officers and they had said they had a picture.

“I was torn between wanting to believe this policeman and knowing he had his facts wrong.”

The officer flipped a page to show Mike a picture of a semi-naked young man.

Hugely relieved, Mike told the officers the image was of a ‘twink’.

He said: “I’d never seen it before but it was a twink, that’s gay slang for a feminine looking man over 18. The officers hadn’t a clue what I was talking about.

“I said he looked about 24 and they laughed. They said the picture was of a 13-year-old boy and that I was going court where the jury would agree he was a child.”

The word twink is used in gay lingo to refer to a young man aged between 18 and early 20s who has certain characteristics such as an effeminate manner, a slim build and no body or facial hair, which all contribute to a youthful look.

And all 71 of the images found on the computer were of twinks.

Mike added: "I was released on police bail. My mind was in overdrive. In desperation I knew I finally had to come out to my mum and family.

“Then I had to find someone who could examine the images the police had found, and show that they were not of my making - and more importantly that they were not of children.

“I’d no idea where to start and fell into a complete mental breakdown where I started to doubt myself and my sanity. I got so sick, I planned my suicide."

Mike continued: “Fortunately I failed twice and in the end I turned to the Rainbow Project and broke down in their office and told them what I was going through.

“They were amazing and said they would support me all the way. While my solicitor got a forensic computer expert to analyse the police evidence, the Rainbow Project set up a presentation for my solicitor and barrister to explain the sort of language used in the gay scene including twink.

“I think if one of the officers who arrested me had been a gay man, I’d never have been put through this nightmare but they live in a different social world to me.”

After 20 months of hell, two suicide attempts, the loss of his job, friends and his social life, Mike was given a glimmer of hope.

The forensic computer expert discovered that the 71 images found in the police search were in fact ads featuring men aged 18 and over.

He also revealed that Mike had neither searched for the images, uploaded, seen them or knowingly stored them.

He was an innocent man, the victim of a dogged but misplaced police investigation and now he could finally show he was not the pervert he had been labelled.

On April 28, at Downpatrick Crown Court, Judge Grant directed the jury to return not guilty verdicts on each of the 15 sample charges of child porn.

Following evidence from the forensic computer expert, the prosecution had offered no evidence and Mike was told he was free to leave the court.

He said: “The judge said I was free to go without a stain on my character and I walked away afraid that I was dreaming.

"The images were ads that had been automatically saved into my computer by the website I’d visited and that’s something none of us has any control over. And it was accepted that the men in those ads were all aged 18 or over.

“So I was innocent, I was free and I could walk out of court and get on with my life, but I felt ruined.

“I still support rigorous police investigations and I really can’t complain about the PSNI doing their job in the interests of child safety.

“But they need to be educated about gay communities and the language we use. It could have prevented my ruination and saved them an awful lot of time, effort and money taking an innocent man to court.

“Today I’m free but I’m still in limbo. My life has been ruined. If it had not been for my mum Aubreen, my brother Richard and his wife Suzie, and my friends Marcus and Georgie, I’d probably be dead by now.

“Without their belief in me I’d have taken my own life but they helped me walk through this hellish journey knowing I was innocent.

“Now I’ve got to work out what I do from here and I’m at a loss. My reputation is ruined. If you type my name into Google, the first few entries brand me a pervert and a fiend. I’d warn anyone who uses a computer no matter how innocently, to let my story be a lesson. I wouldn’t wish what happened to me on anyone.

“I still have my integrity but that’s all. The justice system must learn from this so that no one is ever put in this position again.”