A FORMER barrister and police officer has been jailed for a second time for downloading indecent images of children.

John Temple, a father of four, previously had distinguished careers in the Navy, police and at the Bar but Judge Clement Goldstone QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, branded him a “sick man”.

“As your life history makes clear you are an intelligent man and have served your country with distinction but you have a dark side,” the judge told the 54-year-old, of Satley Plough, County Durham.

“You have a perverted interest in pornography, particularly images of young children engaging in sexual activity with other children, adults and on occasions animals.

“You are what may be described as a sick man but there is no name for the illness which causes you to download and store such filth.”

Liverpool Crown Court heard that a computer Temple had owned for just a month contained more than 1,000 images of children – a third of them illegal. The judge said this indicated an unhealthy interest in children.

Damien Nolan, prosecuting, said police who raided Temple’s home on April 19 this year also found indecent images of children in his pockets and on his bedside table.

In mitigation, Ian Harris said Temple had lost everything and leaves behind the ruins of three professional careers.

Temple pleaded guilty to 19 pornography offences, including some in the more serious categories, and was jailed for 16 months.

A lifetime Sexual Offences Prevention Order was made, restricting his internet use and banning him from working with children. He is already on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

In 2005, Temple was jailed for eight months for downloading more than 3,700 indecent images of children from the internet and distributing some of them.

Temple had previously served with North Yorkshire and then with Northumbria police forces but retired after suffering serious head injuries when he was beaten up by suspected car thieves in North Tyneside in 1992.

He retrained and became a barrister in Durham in 1998 but developed gambling and alcohol problems.

His online activities initially came to light during an operation to bust a 1,300-strong paedophile ring.

The Northern Echo