Ex-councillor had indecent child images

A FORMER Labour councillor, originally from Ormskirk, has pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

Terry Brookes, 59, moved from the West Lancashire town to Essex and became a councillor for the Labour Party.

Brookes of Church Road, Lowestoft, appeared at Basildon Crown Court on Tuesday, November 29.

He was arrested in July on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.

He was then suspended from the Labour Party but says he resigned to “prove (his) innocence and protect the Labour Party” and that he “didn’t want to drag anyone else into it”.

In September, Ormskirkborn Brookes was charged with two counts of making indecent images of a child and one count of distributing indecent images of a child.

Brookes allegedly showed no emotion as he was sentenced to 12 months in jail last week.

The sentence was suspended for two years and he was also given 200 hours of community service, a number of requirements limiting his use of computers, as well as signing the sex offenders register.

The 22 category A (most serious) images showed children as young as eighteen months old.

Brookes received the images through Yahoo, Messenger and Skype.

As a councillor, Brookes was appointed as the portfolio holder for public protection which included all aspects of crime.

Sentencing, Judge Samantha Leigh told Brookes: “The children who are victims of this crime, have to live with this.’’