A COMPUTER expert from the North-East accused of distributing child pornography was helping in the development of a national sex offender database.
Vincent Barron, who is on bail, was working with Northumbria Probation Service, who confirmed he had been suspended.
He had been on secondment to the national Probation Service in London as a programme manager with the National Offender Manager Service (Noms).
The Home Office said yesterday that programme managers are helping to "roll out" the database, known as the Violent and Sex Offender Register. It includes details of 50,000 people considered among the country's most dangerous criminals, including 25,000 registered sex offenders.
A spokesman said programme managers did not have access to the live system.
Mr Barron, originally from Langley Moor, near Durham, was arrested after his details were allegedly found on a computer in Scotland.
He appeared at Kikcaldy Sheriff Court in Fife last month on charges relating to possession and distribution of indecent images of children.
The former Durham University student was bailed to an address in Frosterley, Weardale.
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