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Eric Joyce, seen here in 2015, admitted a child sexual offence
Ex-Labour MP and former Army officer Eric Joyce has received a suspended sentence after he admitted making an indecent image of a child.
Joyce, 59, had a film on a device that “depicts a number of children” with one said to be 12 months old, Ipswich Crown Court heard.
The former shadow minister and ex-MP for Falkirk was arrested in 2018.
He was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, and must complete 150 hours of unpaid work.
The court heard the 51-second category A film – the most serious there is – was accessed by Joyce of Worlingworth, Suffolk, between August 2013 and November 2018.
He was the Labour MP in Stirlingshire between 2000 and 2012 before leaving the party to serve as an independent.
While a Labour MP, Joyce held the post of shadow Northern Ireland minister in 2010.
He stepped down before the 2015 general election.
