A PERVERT children's theatre boss had a sideline in making sadomasochistic films involving lads urinating and spitting on a friend, a court heard.

Lawrence Love directed the filthy films behind the building which housed his drama school in Billingham, near Stockton, and starred in some himself.

The movies were found on a range of computer devices when police raided the 39-year-old's home after a tip-off from the proprietor of a rival theatre.

Teesside Crown Court heard today (Wednesday, May 22) that other images of extreme pornography - involving plastic bags and suffocation - were also discovered.

They were described as “grossly offensive, disgusting or obscene” and “portrayed in an explicit and realistic way an act which threatened a person’s life”.

Prosecutor Christopher Attwoll told the court that Love, of Constable Grove, Billingham, also appeared in some of those video-clips and photographs.

He said the teenagers involved in the other films were paid up to £60 for their performances, which also involved them stamping on the genitals of the 'client'.

Tina Dempster, mitigating, described the acts as consensual and said: "While Mr Love now knows what he did was wrong, at the time he did not realise."

Miss Dempster said a probation officer's report which described Love's unusual sexual behaviour as "entrenched" was "judgemental" and non-enlightened.

"It is consensual sexual activity which, ultimately, physically harms no-one," she told the court. "Mr Love accepts responsibility for what happened."

Love pleaded guilty to two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and another 18 charges of possessing extreme pornography.

Judge Peter Armstrong imposed a nine-month suspended jail term, banned Love from working with children and ordered him to go on a treatment programme.

The court heard that Love was the artistic director and founder of Cleveland Theatre School, and its website says he started it in 1989 when he was 15.

He directed productions including Wizard of Oz and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The group moved into the Billingham Synthonia Club in July 1998.

Cleveland Police previously said officers hand-delivered letters to parents whose children attended the theatre school telling them of the charges Love faced.

The judge told him: "In a bundle of references from those who have come to know you over the years, I get the impression that there is a side to you which is completely worthy.

"A good deal of those testimonials speak of you being an inspirational teacher who has changed their lives for the better, and all that is to the good.

"Unfortunately, there is another side to you because you have a sexual interest of an extreme and perverted kind, in that you get sexual gratification from either being involved in or observing extreme sadomasochistic activities."