A YORK academic and "pillar of the community" was today starting a prison sentence with his career in ruins.

Prosecutor Nicholas Ralph told York Crown Court that police found nearly 2,500 child porn pictures and three pornographic video clips of children on Keith Slingsby Burton's home computer. He had downloaded them from the internet.

Defence barrister Chris Smith said that before his arrest, Burton had been a physics lecturer at the University of York, a school governor, treasurer of a local theatre group and a regular churchgoer. He had since resigned all his positions and he had been told not to attend his church any more.

"He was a public figure, a very pillar of the community, a committed Christian, someone who was well known within the local community," said Mr Smith.

"He has destroyed himself."

Burton, 59, of Old Trough Way, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing child porn and 16 of making child porn by downloading it from the internet.

Recorder Geoffrey Marson QC jailed him for eight months, plus a two-year period under probation service supervision after his release, banned him from ever working with children and put him on the sex offenders' register for ten years.

"Children are corrupted and abused in the most appalling way by those who seek to provide these items on the internet and by downloading them, you know yourself you have contributed to that abuse and degradation," he told Burton.

"To download them in this way by a man like you seems to be on the face of it wholly inexplicable," he said. Mr Ralph said Burton's downfall began in the USA when police found his credit card details among those of people who had used a pornographic website. British officers raided Burton's home on June 21 and seized his computer equipment.

Of the pictures, 21 were at level four on the Copine scale of child pornography, one level below the worst level. Another 31 were at level three, 524 at level two and 1,869 at level one, the lowest.

Mr Smith said 76 per cent of the images were at the lowest level and that Burton had never distributed them to anyone.

A University of York spokesman confirmed that Burton had resigned.

"Accordingly, as he is no longer an employee, we will take no further action," he added.

Updated: 09:37 Saturday, November 13, 2004