Trafford Council 'horrified' paedophile used library PCs
A council has said it was horrified to discover a convicted paedophile had downloaded more than 250,000 indecent images on its library computers.
Anthony Andrews, 49, was jailed indefinitely, with a minimum term of 27 months, at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court on Monday.
He was caught downloading images at Old Trafford library on 11 December 2010.
Trafford Council said it took "robust measures to prevent this type of content being viewed or downloaded".
Under his previous name of Gary Salt, Andrews was jailed for 12 years for raping four children in 1998. He had shared images of the abuse with a paedophile network called the Wonderland Club.
Andrews, of no fixed abode, had joined Manchester library service the day after he was released from prison in April 2010.
He later joined the Trafford's library service. Several months later, a member of the public at Old Trafford library saw him looking at indecent images on the public computers, near the children's section.
Andrews was arrested two days later.
As well as the 250,000 indecent images, police discovered journals with lists of images, handwritten stories which included sexual fantasies involving children, and encryption codes for computer files.
They also seized a guide on how to groom and abuse children, how to survive prison and what to do when released.
A spokeswoman for Trafford Council said: "The council was horrified to learn of the extent to which its equipment had been abused given that we take appropriate and robust measures to prevent this type of content being viewed or downloaded.
"The council utilises sophisticated filtering technology that prevents access to inappropriate content and alerts security staff if access to this kind of material is attempted.
"Despite the sophisticated methods employed by the offender, the council was still able to provide evidence of the offence to the police, to secure his arrest."
She said the material was not accessible by anyone else using council or public-use computers.
"The council continually reviews security across our public access network to ensure we provide the best possible protection for our customers," she added.