A STAFF nurse who downloaded 9,000 Internet sex images of children escaped jail yesterday.

Judge Peter Bowers said that although the offence justified an 18-month prison sentence, the Government would not fund short-term prisoners to be sent on a sex offenders treatment programme.

Lee Wright, 23, who was reported by the FBI to police in County Durham, was given two years' probation, and ordered to complete the programme.

The judge told Wright at Teesside Crown Court: "I suppose that the ready availability of pornography is one of the curses introduced by the Internet.

"The real problem from my point of view is that the availability is carried out by international criminals who inevitably commit gross and sexual offences against children and then sell them internationally. By downloading them you are feeding the exploitation and offences against children.

"The number and the graphic description of serious sexual offences against children shown in these photos that you have downloaded certainly justify a sentence for 18 months imprisonment.

"The Sex Offenders Treatment Programme is perhaps the greatest protection for the public that one can imagine.

"But the Government will not allow sufficient funds available to treat short-term offenders, and the only way I can get you on that programme is by making a sentence that I don't think is appropriate, by making a community rehabilitation order with condition that you complete the Sex Offenders Treatment Programme.

"I blame the Government for not making funds available for short-term offenders to do the programme."

Lee's arrest led to his suspension from the University Hospital of North Durham, and his parents quit their home of 17 years to escape the scandal, said Aisha Wadoodi, defending, who added that Wright now faces being struck off the medical register.

Wright of Marmaduke Street, Spennymoor, County Durham, who admitted 12 offences of making indecent photographs of children on or before April 23, was also ordered to register as a sex offender for five years.