A FORMER Scoutmaster on trial for downloading child pornography from the Internet said in court yesterday that he had no interest in the subject.

Kelvin Marshall was a group Scoutleader and Cub master living with his wife and five-year-old daughter when police raided their home last October while the family were on holiday.

The jury at Teesside Crown Court were told yesterday that the police found more than 1,000 images of child pornography and 85 files of bestiality.

Mr Marshall, 33, said that he had no interest in child pornography or bestiality, and that he had not seen many of the images found by police.

He said that he bought pornographic CDs from a man in The Boot and Shoe pub in Darlington, a car boot sale, and had been loaned some by a work colleague.

He told the court: "I met the man in the pub two or three times before getting anything off him.

"I had no interest in child pornography, and I have no interest in bestiality. I don't recall seeing any of that before."

The police were acting on a worldwide investigation into an Internet website which sold child pornography to credit card holders.

Mr Marshall, of no fixed address, but formerly of Meadowfield Drive, Eaglescliffe, near Yarm, pleads not guilty to 20 charges of making indecent photographs of children between December 1997 and September last year.

The case continues.