A NURSE whose child porn collection included images of girls being raped and bestiality was yesterday struck off the medical register.

David Short, 46, twice paid $29.95 for month-long access to a website where he could download scores of illegal images.

Short filed them in a folder called Young on a computer at his home and another computer at a relative's house, the Nursing and Midwifery Council was told yesterday.

The photos showed girls in various stages of undress, while two showed scenes of rape and bestiality.

Short, who had worked as a nurse at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, before his arrest, failed to attend the hearing in central London yesterday.

In his absence, he was struck off for "supporting and encouraging the debasement of children".

Detective Sergeant Gary Robson, of Northumbria Police, told the hearing how Short was caught during Operation Ore, the nationwide sweep that investigated customers of a Texas porn company.

The hearing heard that on October 8, 2002, police went to Short's home with a warrant obtained from a magistrates' court and he was arrested.

Investigators seized computer equipment from his home, then at Hextol Terrace, Hexham, Northumberland, and a relative's address in Pendower Way, Newcastle.

A forensic examination uncovered 74 pornographic images in the deleted files section from the computer's hard drive, yesterday's hearing heard.

Short, who is married, admitted downloading the images during two police interviews in October 2002 and January last year.

On March 19, last year, he admitted possessing indecent images of children at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court.

On September 8, at Newcastle Crown Court, he was sentenced to a 12-month community rehabilitation order and told to attend a sex offenders' programme.

He was further ordered to pay £722 in costs and register on the Sex Offenders' Register for five years.

Yesterday, Short was removed from the nursing register with immediate effect as committee chairman Angela O'Connor said: "In purchasing and accessing the images, the respondent has supported and encouraged the debasement of children.

"A nurse has a unique and privileged position in society and the respondent's own actions have forfeited that right to be in the profession.