A former police officer from Kent has been spared jail after admitting downloading child pornography from the internet.
Sidney Fillery expressed shame, humiliation and remorse
Sidney Fillery, 57, who was a detective constable in London until 1987, showed a
"mature and active interest" in websites targeted at paedophiles, Bow Street Magistrates heard.
Fillery was sentenced to a three-year community rehabilitation order after pleading guilty to 13 counts of making indecent images of children.
District Judge Caroline Tubbs said the case had given her "a great deal of concern".
The evidence showed Fillery had made "a planned and conscious decision to
access unambiguously named websites", she said.
He was caught after police raided his offices in south east London as part of a separate investigation in December 2002.
Officers found pornographic material on the internet's temporary files and parts of the computer's hard drive.
The prosecution said Fillery, now a private investigator of Kingsingfield Road, West Kingsdown, had not expected to get caught because he never made any payments or subscriptions to the websites and did not save any images.
Hugh Davies, prosecuting, said evidence of dedicated searching and downloading
of child pornography was found on Fillery's computer at his work premises in Grange Road, Thornton Heath, south east London.
Dale Sullivan, defending, said Fillery had expressed his shame,
humiliation and remorse after his arrest.