POLICE in the North-East are closing in on 20 suspected paedophiles named on an FBI list of alleged Internet criminals, it has emerged.

The suspects, all from County Durham, are among up to 2,000 suspected perverts facing arrest over coming weeks in what is thought to be Britain's biggest police inquiry.

Their names have been passed to British police by the FBI, following its investigation into a now-dissolved Texas firm which sold child pornography on the Internet.

Undercover agents infiltrated Landslide Productions and identified subscribers who used their credit cards to pay for access to pay-per-view child porn websites.

Most British suspects who accessed sites such as Cyber Lolita and Child Rape are said to be middle-class professionals, including several magistrates, solicitors, civil servants and councillors.

The list is understood to name 30 police officers, top business people, a Crown prosecutor and an Irish judge.

Police in each of the 51 forces in England, Wales and Scotland are thought to be preparing for a stream of arrests in the coming months - including Durham Constabulary, which The Northern Echo understands is pursuing about 20 people on the list.

A spokeswoman last night confirmed that the Durham force had received information relating to Operation Ore, the FBI investigation into child pornography websites.

She said: "We are considering it but we don't envisage any major involvement and can't comment further because of operational reasons."

The spokeswoman said that part of the difficulty in pursuing those named on the list was the fact that it was three years old.

Among those already arrested as part of Operation Ore are two Cambridgeshire officers who investigated the murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.

In the North-East, Lee Wright, 23, a nurse at the University Hospital of North Durham, was found guilty of downloading thousands of indecent pictures of children from the Internet last month.

And earlier this year, judge's son Peter Hall, 41, of Newcastle, and a man in his 30s from Guisborough, east Cleveland, were among 36 people arrested as part of an Operation Ore swoop.

Cleveland and North Yorkshire Police declined to comment on the latest development.