A DISGRACED former councillor who admitted possessing indecent images of children has been spared jail.

Simon Carter, who resigned as a councillor for the Tottington ward yesterday, pleaded guilty in July to 16 counts of making indecent images of children and was today given a community order at Bolton Crown Court.

The 53-year-old, who had previously been suspended from the Labour Party after admitting the offences, was found to be in possession of a total of 30 indecent images that had been deleted from computers searched by police and Bury Children’s Services in April.

The images ranged from category A, classed as involving penetrative sexual activity, to the less serious categories B and C.

A further 138 computer-generated images were also found, but did not form part of the indictment.

He was interviewed twice by police and said that since 2003 he had been searching for indecent images of children that he believed would help with erectile dysfunction problems.

Carter told police he had initially seen them accidentally but then admitted to later using specific searches to find such images.

Several letters of testimony submitted to the court, including one from Bury Council leader Mike Connolly and others from family and friends, expressed surprise at his behaviour.

Judge Timothy Stead told Carter: “It is understood that you yourself have not laid a hand on a child and I suspect it is something you would not want to do. But even moderate encouragement of this offending is a very serious matter and cannot be overlooked.

“Although some of the images were Category A and would ordinarily require a starting sentence of one year's imprisonment, I am entitled to step away from those guidelines.

“The letters of testimony written on your behalf are impressive, and what also impresses me is that you are someone who has already begun the process of facing up to this.

“You have lost a great deal as a result of these matters being exposed. You have shown a willingness not only to talk about the matter, but to tackle it as a problem."

He was handed a three-year community order with three years’ supervision, and told to attend an accredited sexual offending group programme. He will also have to sign the sex offenders register for five years.

The judge also issued a sexual harm prevention order, prohibiting Carter from using a device capable of accessing the internet, unless it can retain internet history for six months, remains free of software designed to hide internet history, is available on request for police inspection.

He was ordered to pay £670 in costs to the prosecution, and £60 in court costs.