A SENIOR Home Office probation official has appeared in court charged with possessing and distributing child pornography.

Vincent Barron, 49, a former probation officer, who is now a senior Home Office IT manager, faces two charges relating to indecent photographs.

He appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, in Scotland, after an investigation by Fife Police.

It is believed his charges are linked to another investigation into child pornography in the Fife area.

Mr Barron, originally from Durham, trained in social work and was employed in Newcastle as a probation officer for a number of years.

He is still an employee of Northumbria Probation Board, but is on secondment with the Home Office, working on its National Offender Management Service (Noms).

In 2001, he was made implementation project manager of case management, and in 2004, he was listed in the National Probation Directorate as business strategy development manager.

Northumbria Probation Board said Mr Barron had been suspended after the investigation by Fife Police.

The Kirkcaldy Procurator Fiscal said Mr Barron appeared in the town's Sheriff Court on December 9 after a petition was served.

A spokesman said: "He made no plea and was given bail to return at a later date to allow further examination."

Noms was set up in 2004 to improve work between prisons and probation services.

The aim is to create systems to reduce workloads of probation services and prisons by refining organisations and making use of public-private partnerships.

It has a combined workforce of approximately 70,000 people with a budget in excess of £4bn.

In a statement, Northumbria Probation Board said: "As a consequence of a police investigation, an employee of Northumbria Probation Board, currently seconded to the National Offender Management Service, has been suspended.

"We are unable to make any further comment at this time."

Mr Barron, originally from Langley Moor, Durham, was bailed to an address in Frosterley, County Durham