A RAF serviceman who was the subject of a harassment investigation was found to have pornographic images of children on his computer, a court was told yesterday.

James Poole, 33, was in his barracks room at the RAF Leeming Tornado base, North Yorkshire, when he was arrested by four Ministry of Defence (MoD) police officers.

When they examined the hard drive of his desktop PC, they found sordid Internet pictures of girls under 16, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Yesterday, Mr Poole, of Delford Court, Hollingswood, Telford, Shropshire, denied 12 charges of making indecent photos of children.

The court was told he had served 12 years in the forces ending up as an IT technician, before leaving to start his own IT consultancy.

Peter Johnson, prosecuting, said MoD officers had gone to Mr Poole's room at RAF Leeming on August 9, last year.

They were investigating an allegation of harassment made against the airman, but as they searched his room they spotted "an image" on his computer screen.

When the computer was taken away and its hard drive examined, sordid pornographic images featuring young girls were found.

Mr Johnson said: "Police also looked at CDs which contained numerous images of young girls in indecent poses."

Mr Johnson told the jury the 12 charges were "representative samples" of the pictures found on the computer.

The court heard that when quizzed by police Mr Poole denied any knowledge of the images.

He claimed they must have been placed on his computer by "remote access", and named a man and woman he thought could be responsible.

Mr Johnson told the jury that experts found no evidence that Mr Poole's computer had been accessed remotely.

The case continues