A BUSINESSMAN was caught with child pornography when he was stopped by UK Border Agency staff at an airport, a court heard yesterday.

The indecent images are said to have been found among a collection of adult images on a lap-top computer belonging to George Steen, from Darlington.

A jury at Teesside Crown Court was told that more illegal pictures were discovered on a computer seized by police from Mr Steen's home.

Mr Steen, 64, of Greenbank Road, denies a string of charges and faces a trial which started yesterday and is scheduled to last for four days.

The jury of nine men and three women was told that the issue in the case is likely to be how old the people in the photographs and films are.

Prosecutor Paul Mitchell told the jury that the images “show the participants either naked or partially naked in sexualised situations”.

“For the purposes of the offences on the indictment, a person is a child if they appear to be under the age of 18,” Mr Mitchell explained.

“You have the sole responsibility of deciding whether those appearing in the images are 'children' according to this definition.”

Some of the charges relate to photographs or videos found on the lap-top seized at Heathrow Airport when Mr Steen returned from Thailand in July 2010.

Mr Steen is said to have told customs officials: “There are images of young girls, like page 3 stuff, pornography about 19- or 20-year-old girls.”

A computer expert found three encrypted files – labelled 'adult pictures' and 'adult videos' – on the lap-top which could not be accessed without a password.

Mr Mitchell said in the majority of the images, the subject is either being spanked or caned, or shows obvious signs of having been so.

Two months after his arrival in the UK, Mr Steen was arrested at his home and a computer was seized from the flat, said Mr Mitchell.

There were more indecent images on the computer, and 'hard-copy' photographs were also found in a card file marked 'spank site', the jury heard.

In a store cupboard, another computer was found – although it was not in use – and more illegal pictures were found on its memory, said Mr Mitchell.

When he was questioned, Mr Steen said the lap-top seized at the airport belonged to his firm and he had access to it most of the time; He told investigators that his fiancee and another person also used it as well as members of his staff in the Philippines.

Mr Mitchell said he admitted knowing there were “sexy” images, including spanking, on it, but maintained the website from which they were downloaded claims their models are all over 18.

Mr Steen denies 14 counts of downloading indecent images, two counts of possessing indecent images and one count of attempting to evade import restrictions.