A CHILD porn pervert, who was unmasked when he dumped his collection at a North-East tip, has helped overturn laws which ban people who look at child abuse images from being alone with minors – on the basis that it breaches their human rights.

Court of Appeal judges came under fire after they took away powers which meant courts could ban child porn perverts from having unsupervised access to their own children, or stop them from using the internet.

Darlington pervert Bryan Hall, 54, along with three others, went to the Court of Appeal to overturn Sexual Offences Prevention Orders (Sopos), which are designed to protect children from abuse, complaining they infringed their human rights.

The court ruled they breached the “right to family life” and total bans on using the internet “restricts the use of an essential part of everyday living”.

It also overturned blanket bans on paedophiles coming into contact with young people aged 16 to 18.

The ruling has come under criticism from children’s charities.

Claude Knights, director of Kidscape, said children were statistically more at risk from adults they know than from strangers.

He said: “It is extremely surprising and disappointing that the Human Rights Act can be used in this way.

“The safety of children should come first and whoever has decided this needs to do some serious explaining.”

Married Hall, who ran a mobile disco, was found with more than 6,000 images of children being abused on his home computer.

Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to 16 counts of making indecent images of children and one charge of possession of indecent pictures.

Staff at a recycling centre noted his registration number and contacted police when they found indecent images of children ripped up in a skip, along with computer discs.

When police raided his home in Beaconsfield Street, he initially told them the images belonged to a former lodger. He later said his new Thai bride was arriving in the UK and he did not want her to see the material.

Hall was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and banned from living or working with children. He was also ordered to go on a sex offenders’ treatment course.