A RETIRED Suffolk teacher has been told he must never work with children again after he downloaded more than 6,500 indecent images.

Naomi Cassidy

A RETIRED Suffolk teacher has been told he must never work with children again after he downloaded more than 6,500 indecent images.

Donald Duncan, of Broadwater Gardens, Shotley Gate, was found guilty last month of downloading thousands of images of children for his sexual gratification and at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday was sentenced to 14 weeks in prison, which will be suspended for two years.

Duncan 67, who taught maths at independent schools for 40 years, had previously admitted to 16 offences of making indecent images of children and one offence of possessing indecent images of children between January 2001 and March 2007.

However he claimed he had no sexual interest in the images and had downloaded them as part of statistical research after hearing a claim on a radio show that child pornography was on the increase.

The trial heard how Duncan, who has never been married and has no children, had also been the manager of an under 12 cricket team. A visitor to Duncan's flat saw the images and reported him to police.

When officers seized his computer, they found 6,516 indecent images of children, ranging from scales one to five, with five being the most serious. There were 5,725 images at level one, 375 at level two, 145 at level three, 257 at level four and 14 at level five.

The defendant who taught from 1961 to 2001 accepted he had been “naïve and stupid”.

A probation report revealed that he had come to terms with his “offending behaviour”.

Judge Neil McKittrick said: “There was no direct contact by you against a child and you did not take the photos yourself.

“However somewhere in the world a child is being abused for the gratification of adults.

“You are a man of good character and have done a great deal in your life in particular with regards to teaching.

“These offences are revolting and reprehensible.”

On sentencing him, the judge called for the forfeiture of his laptop, software and hard drives, and ordered him to pay £1,000 in prosecution costs. He also imposed a number of conditions and gave him an order which disqualifies him from working with children in the future.