A RETIRED Suffolk teacher has been found guilty of downloading more than 6,000 indecent images of children for his sexual gratification.

Jane Hunt

A RETIRED Suffolk teacher has been found guilty of downloading more than 6,000 indecent images of children for his sexual gratification.

Donald Duncan, who taught maths at independent schools for 40 years and has also been involved in youth cricket, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday.

The 67-year-old, of Broadwater Gardens, Shotley Gate, had previously admitted 16 offences of making indecent images of children and one offence of possessing indecent images of children between January 2001 and March 2007.

However he claimed he had no sexual interest in the images and had downloaded them as part of statistical research after hearing a claim on a radio show that child pornography was on the increase.

The trial was adjourned until yesterday when Judge Neil McKittrick rejected his claims and said he was satisfied the pensioner had downloaded the images for his sexual gratification.

Robert Sadd, prosecuting, told the court that at the time of the offences Duncan, who has never been married and has no children, had been the manager of an under 12 cricket team.

He said a visitor to Duncan's flat saw the images and reported him to police and that when officers seized his computer they found a total of 6,516 indecent images of children including - on a scale of one to five with five being the most serious - 5,725 at level one, 375 at level two, 145 at level three, 257 at level four and 14 at level five.

Duncan, who was a teacher between 1961 and 2001, told the court he had decided to collect information on child pornography after hearing a claim on a radio programme that it was on the increase.

He accepted that he had been “naïve and stupid” but denied having a sexual interest in the indecent images he had downloaded.

Rejecting Duncan's claims Judge McKittrick said: “I am not satisfied that he had or may have had these images for research purposes.

“My finding is that the prosecution has made me sure these images were accrued by the defendant for his own gratification.” Duncan is set to be sentenced on July 17.