A FORMER soldier caught with pornographic images of girls as young as five was jailed for 12 months yesterday.

Trevor MacPherson, 29, was reported to police by his former girlfriend in North Yorkshire, who handed over his computer, which contained 550 images taken from the Internet.

His arrest triggered vigilante attacks which drove him from his new home in Scotland, a court was told.

MacPherson was living with his girlfriend in Worton, Northallerton, when he became attracted to Internet child porn, said Sarah Mallett, prosecuting.

She told Teesside Crown Court: "His girlfriend suspected he was using the computer for child pornography, and her suspicions increased.

"There was an argument and he struck her. She ordered the computer to be dismantled and she cancelled the subscription to America OnLine.

"She had an inkling that he was still using it because whenever she telephoned home, she discovered that the line was engaged."

Their relationship broke down last year and she reported her suspicions to a friend.

MacPherson left behind the computer, and she handed it over to police, who recovered a large number of images of children.

When MacPherson, a soldier for 11 years, was arrested at his East Lothian flat, police found a book of photos of naked children, which he said had been left by someone.

Jim Withyman, in mitigation for MacPherson, who was arrested after twice failing to turn up at the court, said: "He realises the gravity of what he has done.

"There is a tried and tested programme for sex offenders in Scotland, and he wishes to be on it."

MacPherson, of Minto Street, Edinburgh, was jailed for 12 months after he pleaded guilty to 17 charges of possessing indecent photographs of children between January 2001 and February last year.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, said: "Some of the children, quite apart from being unkempt and ill-nourished, were obviously showing signs of being haunted by such an experience.

"It is your kind of activity which encourages those who are more closely connected with child sexual abuse to do what they do."

He added: "Without your encouragement of them, there would not be such a high level of such activity in the world."