A MAN awarded £35,000 by a North-East police force after he was wrongly accused of downloading nearly 600 indecent images of children told The Northern Echo his life has been destroyed.

John Maughan agreed an out of court settlement with Durham Police in September after what he calls an eight year “nightmare.”

However, he said the settlement - made up of £15,000 in compensation and £20,000 in costs - is “an insult” and he is a “broken man” who is on the brink of financial ruin and cannot afford to take his fight any further.

The 65-year-old, from Bishop Auckland, was first alerted to a problem relating to his computer when he received a phone call from Durham Police, while he was working in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, asking him to return home.

He said he was due back in a few months and on his return would visit the police station near to his home to sort the matter out.

But on his arrival at Newcastle Airport, he said he was treated like an animal when he was arrested, manhandled as if he was a wanted criminal and had his passport confiscated.

No bail conditions were ever imposed, so Mr Maughan’s solicitor informed police the passport had been seized unlawfully. But it was not returned until the charges had been dropped, preventing him from returning to work while police investigated the case.

Mr Maughan was charged with 17 counts of possessing indecent photographs, dating between June 2005 and January 2008.

However, all the images were downloaded within seconds of each other on his computer on January 21, 2008 – a day when he was working abroad.

Having seized the computer, officers ran a two virus checks on the computer over a five month period but received negative results.

In between this time, Mr Maughan called in his own computer expert, who discovered 251 viruses.

Officers later said there must be a fault with their software and sent the computer for external testing, after which the results came back positive – although Mr Maughan was told they did not believe it had anything to do with the images.

Mr Maughan said the anti-virus report was never presented in court and believes if they had found the 251 viruses in the first place, the case would never had been brought to court.

Following a number of court appearances, the Crown Prosecution Service eventually dropped the case at Durham Crown Court in May 2009.

Mr Maughan, who has not been able to work since shortly after his arrest, submitted a claim for malicious prosecution against Durham Police in 2012.

Last month he settled out-of-court, but said he felt he had to accept because financially he was unable to take it further.

“I couldn’t afford to fight anymore,” he said.

“I am a broken man. It has absolutely destroyed everything – socially, financially and work.

“I am a man living in a building but doesn’t feel like home. The case may have been thrown out but mud sticks and people who used to be friends still ignore me as they walk past me in the street.

“I have never received an apology for anything that has happened. Before this I had never even had a speeding ticket. I have gone from £100,000 per year salary to state benefits.

“After a life full of employment. I now find myself humiliated, unemployed and on the dole.”

Mr Maughan has also spent the last few years caring for his partner Teresa McManners, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

He added: “I cannot say that the immense stress she has had to go through over the years has caused the Alzheimer’s. What I can say is the immense stress must have played a role in it.”

A spokesman for Durham Police said: “Following the pursuit of a civil claim against Durham Police after the arrest of a man in 2008, the force and the individual in the case have come to an agreement to settle the matter out of court.”