Former Coronation Street actor Eric Potts faces years in prison after pleading guilty to making indecent images of children. The 61-year-old, who played baker Diggory Compton on the soap from February 2005 until July 2006, will be sentenced at Burnley crown court next month.
Potts appeared at Blackburn magistrates’ court on Thursday, October 1, where his hearing lasted 10 minutes as he admitted all offences. The hearing took place in Bacup, Lancashire, where he has lived for 20 years.
Details of the offences
In total, Potts admitted making 83 images over a decade between May 2015 and October of last year. Seven images are Category A, the most serious classification. A further 16 are Category B and 60 are Category C.
Prosecutors also said he shared five images on a single day on July 16, 2024. He was arrested earlier this year and initially charged with three counts of making indecent photographs of a child and three counts of distributing them.
Police investigation
Prosecutor Safia Hussain said: "Police officers attended the defendants home address and seized a number of devices which included a PC, an HP Laptop and an iPhone."
"They were taken for examination by the digital forensic unit, and a number of indecent images were found on the devices. The defendant was therefore charged with making and distributing images of Category A, B, and C."
Lancashire Constabulary confirmed the details of his arrest to The Sun. Officers first received information that the user of a file sharing account had uploaded an indecent video of a child to the internet on August 20 last year.
Officers from the Internet Child Exploitation Team attended the married father of two's address, which was linked to the account. He was arrested on suspicion of possession and distribution of indecent images of children.
Career background
Although subsequently bailed pending further enquiries, more illegal imagery was found following an examination of his devices and he was arrested again. He was formally charged in September this year.
The Scottish-born actor is best known for playing eccentric baker Diggory Compton in 50 episodes of Coronation Street. Prior to that, he appeared in Channel 4's Brookside for two years from 1998.
Other TV credits include Casualty, Heartbeat, The Royal, Last of the Summer Wine, and the BBC Scotland sitcom Still Game. In 2005, he also appeared in an episode of Doctor Who.
