A MAN described as a model citizen was today starting a 12-month prison sentence after admitting 16 child pornography offences.

Charles Heffer, 48, a former manager of Selby's Safeway supermarket, downloaded 2,000 indecent photographs of children from the Internet.

Sentencing him at Selby Court, presiding magistrate Tony Hargreaves said child porn was an evil trade and described the photos as "disgusting".

Detective Sergeant Dave Pegg said later: "I've been in the force 24 years and these are some of the worst images I have ever seen.

"We're very happy with the sentence, which sends out a warning to other like-minded people."

Mike Duffy, prosecuting, said that in March 2002 the defendant was arrested in connection with "other matters" that were not proceeded with.

But as a result of that investigation, police seized Heffer's computer and discovered 2,000 indecent images of children on the hard drives.

Nearly 500 of them were held in a temporary Internet file, while the rest had been deleted. There was also evidence that the images had been enlarged.

Mr Duffy said Heffer, a married man with a son, admitted browsing sites. On a level of one to five - the most serious being five - about 500 of the photographs were at level four and one at level five.

Keith Haggerty, mitigating, said Heffer was the manager of a local supermarket, a model citizen who was highly regarded.

But when unfounded allegations were made against him regarding "other matters", he lost his job. He suffered from stress and depression, was at home all day with nothing to do and started to drink heavily.

Mr Haggerty said: "It was only by chance he came across one of these Internet sites and then chat rooms, with invitations to look at certain websites.

"He gave in to temptation, but denies getting any sexual satisfaction out of it.

"He now realises the damage these sites do to abused children."

When police told Heffer they had found the images on his computer, he signed his house, in a village near Selby, over to his wife and left the area because of the shame and humiliation he had brought to his family.

The court heard that Heffer ended up living rough, in London, where he stayed for 15 months, doing odd jobs and eating in soup kitchens.

He walked into a London police station in May and admitted what he had done.

Heffer, of no fixed address, was also put on the sex offenders' register for ten years.

Updated: 10:35 Thursday, June 26, 2003