A FATHER whose life has been rocked by a series of tragedies is facing a prison sentence for child abuse images.

Bernard Swift, known as Ben, yesterday admitted three counts of making indecent images and three of possessing indecent videos of a girl.

Swift, 53, of Lancaster Road, Hartlepool, admitted the six charges on what was to be the first day of his trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Judge Peter Bowers bailed him to return for sentencing on June 9.

The judge told the retired storeman: “You can have bail, but I am making no promises.

I don’t know what your sentence will be.”

Swift and his family became well-known in the region when a campaign was launched to save the life of his daughter, Christine, in 1997.

Christine was suffering from leukaemia and an appeal was started to find a bone marrow donor for the then five-year-old.

Eventually, her older sister, Elaine, was found to be a match, and a successful transplant saved her life.

However, four years later, tragedy struck the Swift family when Elaine, then aged 15, took her life with an overdose of painkillers.

Swift blamed school bullies for driving his daughter to despair, and said she became a target after her lifesaving act.

He said at the time of her inquest in 2002: “I will fight for a better system to deal with bullies until the day I die.”

Swift was then also a primary school governor, and was suffering from the crippling spine disorder spondylosis.

When he appeared in court yesterday, he was in a motorised disabled scooter and was accompanied by his wife, Fiona.

The Northern Echo understands that none of Swift’s children is involved in any of the alleged offences, which date from 2005.

During the inquest into Elaine’s death, it also emerged that her younger brother died when he was only six months old.

Hartlepool coroner Malcolm Donnelly ruled that her overdosing on tablets was a misguided attempt to grab attention.

The coroner said he believed Elaine had not intended to kill herself, but had taken the tablets to seek attention, and recorded a verdict of accidental death, He told the family: “To lose one child is devastating, but to lose two in such circumstances – words cannot describe that.”

Swift’s barrister, Paul Cleasby, said he was a man of previous good character, who pleaded guilty after lengthy talks with the prosecution.