Public fall from grace

Mike Buckley

THE conviction of Councillor Buckley for downloading indecent pictures of naked young boys to his computer marked “a public fall from grace.”


Buckley (68), was told by Judge Jonathan Foster that for a man who had previously lived an exemplary and upstanding life, the loss of his good name was punishment enough. But he added that the public was entitled to see such offending was met with a harsh sentence.

Buckley has been ordered to join the internet sexual offenders treatment programme, which involves 35 two-hour sessions, with extra work in between. He will be subject to supervision by the Probation Service for two years and to a sexual harm prevention order for five years. He will be on a strict, 28-day, 8am-4pm curfew starting next week, and has been ordered to pay £2,000 in costs.

The Crown Court jury was told during Buckley’s trial in early December that more than 300 pictures and video clips had been found on his computer after police searched his home in March 2014.

GMP had been alerted by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, which had been contacted by agencies in Canada where the so-called “naturist” films had been made. Buckley’s name had been found on a mailing list held by a company that supplied them.

The trial jury unanimously found Buckley guilty on 16 specimen counts of making indecent images of youngsters aged six-17.

Buckley had consistently denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that in his view the images were not indecent.


Mike Buckley’s sentence yesterday saw an ignominious halt to a colourful, high-profile career in Saddleworth and Oldham politics.


After graduating with a degree in electrical engineering from Imperial College in 1969, Buckley worked for 18 years as an engineer and later a general manager at British Telecom.

From 1994-2005 he worked internationally as a telecommunications consultant, including three years in America. He has lived in Dobcross for more than 18 years and was elected to Oldham Council in 2004, representing the Lib-Dems for eight years in Saddleworth North and became a Saddleworth parish councillor the same year.

He resigned from the Lib-Dems in January 2014 to join the Independent group over the decision to move Saddleworth School to Diggle.