A STUDENT is facing jail after being caught with hardcore child pornography videos on his computer at the University of York.

Jonathan Wong, 23, who lives on the Heslington campus, had built up his secret hoard of lengthy and “graphic” movies featuring girls as young as six over more than a year.

The case came to light after fellow students became suspicious about audio files on the university’s internal network, and alerted campus authorities, who traced the files to Wong.

Police were then informed and uncovered pornographic images of children on his computer, York magistrates heard yesterday.

Officers raided Wong’s home and took away his laptop and computer hard drive.

When police computer experts examined the hard drive, they found 50 videos, all of which featured child pornography. Of the films, 25 were rated as Four on the Copine scale, which is used to decide the severity of child pornography.

The top two categories, levels four and five, are used for hardcore pornography.

Martin Butterworth, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told magistrates: “You are looking at quite serious offences. We are talking about girls as young as six.

“Of the movies, some of them are graphic, some of them have audio, some of them last more than an hour.”

Wong, of Janet Baker Close, Goodricke College, Deramore Lane, York, pleaded guilty to 17 charges of making a child pornography video between July 15, 2008, and March 19, 2010.

All the charges related to the files found on his computer.

Magistrates decided their maximum sentencing power of 12 months in prison was insufficient, and committed him instead to York Crown Court where he will be sentenced on December 13.

A University of York spokesman declined to comment until after the December court date.

Mr Butterworth said students logging into the university’s intranet, which is not accessible by the general public, found the audio files.

“This material was associated with the defendant,” said Mr Butterworth. For Wong, Keith Haggerty said he had not shared his films with anyone and had no intention of doing so.

Mr Haggerty said: “He went to some lengths to try to make sure no one else saw them. It was entirely private.”

The intranet can only be used by registered users with a password.

It is different from the university’s general website, which is accessible by anyone.