SENTENCING on a man who has admitted charges relating to the widespread distribution of child pornography has been delayed until next month.

Paul Hagan, 47, previously admitted 15 counts of making indecent photographs of children, possession of 15,000 images of child abuse, and distributing 4,390 pictures, between October 2006 and February 2008.

Following his guilty pleas, at Teesside Crown Court, in May, Hagan, of the Wynd, Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, was bailed to an address in the West Midlands, pending sentence.

But he was warned by a judge to expect a lengthy prison sentence.

The former serviceman was described in court as the administrator for a website which distributed photographs of child abuse.

At an earlier hearing, organisers of the site were said to have amassed a collection of more than a million indecent pictures and film clips of children.

But at what was to have been the sentencing hearing, yesterday, Hagan was not at Durham Crown Court as prosecutor Tim Gittins said further inquiries are being made into Hagan’s activities after other information came to light.

Lee Fish, for Hagan, asked for a further adjournment to enable psychiatric reports to be prepared on his client.

Mr Fish said he had realised the prosecution was unlikely to accept his client’s initial explanation that he was looking at the images out of “altruism”

so he could inform the relevant authorities.

Judge Christopher Prince adjourned the case to be relisted on a day in the week of October 15 and Hagan’s bail was extended to the West Midlands address.