Ex-publican jailed over child porn

A FORMER publican who led a double life online was caught with a vile library of 45,000 indecent images of boys as young as nine.

Edward Bell had two Facebook accounts – one for his family and the other to pursue his perverted interest in youngsters.

A court heard the 59-year-old was in contact with people in the Philippines behind his wife’s back as he downloaded and shared the sick images.

Now the ex-pub boss has been jailed for 16 months at Newcastle Crown Court.

The court heard police executed a search warrant at his home in December 2015 and he confessed to what he had been up to straight away.

Prosecutor Michael Bunch said: “He said the images were from 10 years upwards, the investigation suggests nine to 11 years old.

“He said he knew he should not be doing it. He used a website which led to his identification to make contact with others in relation to sharing any such images.”

The court heard 45,000 indecent images were found on his laptop, 15,000 of them unique as they appeared in triplicate. Some 6,700 of them were of the most serious type, category A, 8,900 were category B and 29,500 category C. There was also one image of extreme pornography.

Bell, of Nursery Lane, Felling, Gateshead, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images and one of possessing extreme pornography.

Sentencing him, Recorder Simon Kealey QC said: “In my judgement these offences are so serious only an immediate custodial sentence, in the circumstances, can be justified.”

As well as the 16-month prison sentence, Bell was made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and must sign the sex offenders register.