A TRAGIC father caught with child pornography and indecent videos of children on his home computer was yesterday jailed for four months.

Former school governor Bernard Swift – known as Ben – was arrested when police, acting on a tip-off, raided his Hartlepool home in September 2008.

The 53-year-old initially denied knowledge of the material, but later admitted six charges when he was due to go on trial last month.

He was told by Judge Peter Fox yesterday: “These were real children being abused and you were obtaining your sexual gratification from that.

“There is no avoiding custody.

People who have your predilection must realise they are contributing to the abuse of small children.”

Swift and his family were well-known in the region when a campaign began to save the life of his five-year-old daughter, Christine, in 1997.

She was suffering from leukaemia and a fund to pay for bone marrow donor testing led to her older sister, Elaine, being found to be a match.

A successful transplant saved Christine’s life, but four years later, tragedy struck the family when Elaine, then 15, took her life with an overdose.

Former storeman Swift blamed school bullies for driving his daughter to despair.

He now suffers from the crippling spine disorder spondylosis, and arrived with wife, Fiona, at court yesterday in a motorised scooter.

Paul Cleasby, in mitigation, said Swift was not considered a danger and had not offended since his arrest nearly three years ago.

He told Teesside Crown Court: “The thing that’s lost to Mr Swift at the age of 53 is his good character – something he prized and cherished.

“He is fortunate in the sense that he maintains the emotional support of his wife.

“It is not suggested Mr Swift has any vast library of images, and there were no aggravating features relating to them being distributed.

“They appear to have arisen in moments of idle curiosity. It has not been repeated.”

Swift, of Lancaster Road, Hartlepool, admitted three charges of making indecent images of children and three of possessing them from 2005.