The Crown is seeking jail time for a former West Vancouver Secondary guidance counsellor who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.
Joseph Scott William McLeod, known as “Joey McLeod” in his professional capacity, pleaded guilty to the charge in North Vancouver Provincial Court in August 2022.
At his sentencing hearing Friday, the court heard how McLeod, 41, sent images containing child nudity and child pornography from his phone to a contact via Snapchat, which was flagged by the social media company and his IP address directed to police.
North Vancouver RCMP executed a search warrant at his North Vancouver home in January 2020, seizing his phone and laptop, which had on them dozens of pictures and drawn cartoons, as well as one video, showing prepubescent boys ranging in age from six months to 13 years old, nude or being sexually abused.
Police also seized a two-terabyte hard drive from McLeod’s home but it was password protected, and despite eight months of police software making 11 billion attempts to crack the password, they were unable to access the data, the court heard.
McLeod had been a Grade 8 guidance counsellor at West Vancouver Secondary since 2017. Prior to that, he was a math teacher in Richmond.
Crown counsel Sean Harvey detailed the varying degrees of harm being done to the young boys in the material seized by police.
He described the five-minute video, which involved a boy between the ages of one and two years old, as being “as vile as one could imagine a sexual assault on a child could be.”
McLeod hung his head and closed his eyes as Harvey summarized the contents.
Given the circumstances of the case, Harvey said a jail sentences of six to 12 months would be appropriate, emphasizing the “unimaginable, grotesque” nature of the abuse in the images and video, which targeted “the most vulnerable” victims in society.
Children forced into abusive pornography are re-victimized every time the images are viewed, Harvey said, and the victims’ lives are often ruined because of the abuse they received.
McLeod has since left North Vancouver and moved to Ontario, the court heard.
Defence lawyer Claire Hatcher argued McLeod should be given a conditional sentence order, meaning “a jail sentence served at home,” for up to 24 months, followed by a year of probation.
Hatcher said her client came to court “with a profound and profoundly genuine sense of remorse, shame, and ever-developing insight” into his life at the time he was accessing photos of children being abused.
Hatcher noted there was no suggestion that McLeod ever behaved inappropriately with any of his students.
McLeod has turned his life around since the time of his arrest, getting off drugs and alcohol and making efforts at his rehabilitation through counselling.
Hatcher noted that McLeod’s actions led to him losing the career that he loved and that he has also been publicly shamed for his behaviour through the media.
During an interview for a pre-sentence report, McLeod was “atypically candid” about this pedophilic attraction to young boys, one psychologist remarked.
Two expert reports submitted to the court concluded McLeod was at low risk to reoffend.
Once his sentence is complete, McLeod wishes to help others who have gone through a similar experience, Hatcher said.
Before the hearing was adjourned, McLeod apologized to the court, his family members present, the teaching profession and to the wider community for his actions.
“I wish I could apologize directly to the children. The consequences of my sentence are going to be part of my rehabilitation and healing my soul and delivering justice. Again, I’m sorry beyond words and I strive to get this right in whatever way I can.”
McLeod will be sentenced later in the fall.
