A TEENAGER has admitting distributing indecent images of children downloaded from the internet.

Josh Lee Howard transmitted 35 images, some featuring very young children, to a man with whom he was in communication, in Coventry.

Durham Crown Court heard 16 of the images sent from his tablet computer were classed in the most severe category for such material.

Police also discovered a further 580 illicit images, 140 rated in the most serious classification, on examination of the computer's hard drive, seized from Howard’s home, at the time, at Carrville, Durham, in February.

A moving category A image was found on a computer tower belonging to Howard, which was among the equipment removed by police from the house, in Fallsway.

Appearing at a preliminary hearing at the court today (Wednesday September 30), 18-year-old Howard admitted one count of distributing and two charges of making indecent images of children.

Stephen Constantine, for Howard, said: “This is a young man with only one previous offence on his record, and of a dissimilar nature.”

Judge Simon Hickey agreed to adjourn sentence to allow for preparation of a report on the defendant by the Probation Service.

He bailed Howard, now of Lord Street, Sunderland, to return for sentence on October 23.