A male nurse who downloaded pornographic pictures of young boys onto his home computer has been jailed for five months.

Police found 198 images on Stephen Green's machine including two of a sex act being performed on a youngster who was tied up, Durham Crown Court heard.

But the court was told that there was no connection between the offences and Green's work in schools in Hartlepool.

Green, 24, of Durham Gardens, Witton Gilbert, Durham City, admitted 16 offences of making indecent images and asked that others be taken into consideration.

Prosecutor Richard Cowan said the offences came to light when a friend found the images.

The friend went to the police who seized the computer and found images of youngsters performing sex acts and acts being performed on boys by adults.

Paul Cleasby, defending, said Green, who had no previous convictions, voluntarily went to police and "confessed to doing something stupid'' before they had examined the contents of his computer.

"He made a full and frank admission to the police,'' said Mr Cleasby.

Green was no more than a "casual viewer of images available on the Internet'' and had no connection with the youngsters featured in them. His nursing career was finished - he had resigned from his job - but "there has never been any hint of in appropriateness or wrong-doing at work,'' he said.

The offences were committed in two brief periods "at a time when he has been isolated and somewhat intoxicated and his curiosity has got the worse of him''.

Mr Cleasby said Green would be at risk of bullying in jail and called for a community rehabilitation order.

But Judge Richard Lowden said some of the pictures were so serious that a non-custodial sentence could not be justified.

A Hartlepool Primary Care Trust spokesman said: "This allegation was not related to activities carried out during this individual's work with the Primary Care Trust.''