A RISING politician taken to court on child pornography charges told yesterday how his wife's commitment and love had kept him going.

Chris Morgan seemed destined for a bright political future when he became North Tyneside's first elected mayor in 2002.

Within a year, his dreams of making a difference to his home town, and in the Conservative party nationally, were in tatters.

Claims that he used his computer to access child pornography cost him his £50,000-a-year job, his political career and nearly two years of his life.

Now, weeks after the case against him collapsed at court, he is rebuilding his career which, for the time being, lies not in politics, but in accountancy.

Speaking at his home in Whitley Bay, surrounded by cards from his 36th birthday, Mr Morgan described how the support of friends, family and, in particular, his wife Nikki had made all the difference.

He said: "We have always been close, but we have become closer.

"Nikki never doubted for a moment that I was innocent, but something like this puts an incredible strain on you.

"We were living in limbo for 18 months. You do not realise how much it stops you getting on with your normal life. You cannot sleep, you cannot put it out of your mind, it is with you every waking moment.

"I need to restart my career and I need to earn some money and, unfortunately, politics does not pay. For these reasons, I cannot return to frontline politics in the near future, but that does not mean I will not at some time."

For now, his political activities are behind the scenes helping new mayor Linda Arkley and Conservative parliamentary candidate Michael McIntyre.