POLICE who seized computer equipment in a raid on a Ripon house found nearly 700 indecent images of children had been taken from the internet, a court heard.

Prosecutor Peter Scott told Harrogate magistrates yesterday that Francis William Mingay's name was one of a number passed to North Yorkshire Police as part of Operation Ore, a transatlantic investigation into pornography involving children under 16.

Police had raided the home Mingay, 47, shared with his family in Southgate Avenue, on December 7. He was not there, but a search resulted in computer equipment being seized.

When Mingay was interviewed the next day he said he could not remember subscribing to American-based Internet sites and did not believe there were any indecent photographs stored on his computer.

But Mingay then admitted there were indecent adult images and Mr Scott said an examination of the equipment seized revealed 691 indecent images of children, most of them stored on five CD ROMs. Nine of the images had been identified as level three on a scale of one to five, and one was categorised as level four. The vast majority were at the lower end of the scale.

Mr Scott said Mingay had been interviewed again in March when he said he initially accessed adult porn sites and then subscribed to others trading in child pornography. Mingay pleaded guilty to ten charges of making an indecent photograph of a child at Ripon between March 1999 and December, last year and one of possession of indecent photographs.

Magistrates studied Court of Appeal guidelines before agreeing with Mingay's solicitor Geoffrey Rogers that their sentencing powers - a maximum of 12 months in prison - were adequate and they need not send him to a Crown Court judge.

The hearing was adjourned until August 20 so probation reports can be prepared on Mingay who was bailed in the meantime.

Updated: 10:56 Wednesday, July 30, 2003