A COLLEGE lecturer with a "morbid curiosity for the unusual" has been jailed and banned from working with children after admitting child porn offences.

Stephen Daltry, who was a teacher in politics and media studies at Stockton Riverside college until May last year, had 27,000 pornographic images on his computer.

Ninety-two of the images were of youngsters.

Teesside Crown Court heard the 33-year-old was caught after a police officer at the specialist unit at New Scotland Yard received information about a web user accessing child pornography.

A search was activated to find out the user's address, which led police to Daltry, a married father-of-one, in April last year.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said the defendant's computer was seized and images were found, including 16 at the most serious end of the scale, and eight video clips.

He said: "The defendant said he had downloaded a large number of images and was part of a file sharing programme.

"He admitted one or two might have been of children. He said he opened the images but would quickly delete them.

"He said he had a morbid curiosity with the unusual and was fascinated by porn and the bizarre."

Nigel Soppitt, for Daltry, formerly of Eamont Road, Norton, near Stockton, said his client had not deliberately accessed child porn and had deleted images as soon as he realised children were featured.

He said: "He is an educated man. His career was mapped out for him.

"He had a number of educational achievements and was doing a job he loved.

"That has been dashed and there is no prospect of him entering the education system again.

"He has been subject to assault after assault in the community."

Judge Michael Taylor sentenced Daltry, who pleaded guilty to 17 child porn offences, to nine months in prison.

He was banned from working with children for 20 years and placed on the sex offenders' register for ten years.

Judge Taylor said: "From viewing these images it is clear very young children are abused in distressing circumstances."