A TEACHER who admitted downloading indecent images of children has been handed a community order and a curfew.

Aidan Moss, a former teacher at Tudor Grange Academy in Worcester, was sentenced to a two year community order when he appeared before judge Nicholas Cole at Worcester Crown Court yesterday.

As previously reported there is no suggestion that his offending in any way involved the school.

Moss, of Coney Green Close in Great Meadow, Worcester, admitted making indecent images of children, last week.

This included nine category A pictures of children – the most explicit and offensive kind – along 22 category B and 15 category C images.

The 30-year-old formerly taught science at Tudor Grange Academy, a secondary school in Bilford Road, Worcester.

Moss was sentenced to a two year community order and must complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He was placed on a daily curfew for two months between 9pm and 6am. A sexual harm prevention order was also made which restricts Moss's use of the internet.

The judge also ordered that the devices on which the indecent images were found be seized and destroyed.

Amiee Parkes, prosecuting, said the images were downloaded over a prolonged period between 2007 and 2011.

The school said that Moss was suspended from the school in December 2016 following the allegations and sacked in March of this year after more evidence from the police became available.

At a previous court hearing Worcester magistrates were told that Moss had been addicted to pornography for 10 years and had become desensitised to the content.

He would download images and then delete them shortly after he had used them.

There was no suggestion that Moss had shared the images with other people or that any of his former pupils were victims of his actions.

Moss' offences were revealed when police were called to his address on December 14 in 2016 and seized various devices for accessing the internet.

Magistrates had decided their powers of punishment were not enough, despite a request from Mark Turnball, defending Moss, that the matter could be dealt with in the magistrates court.

Sam Roach, headteacher of the school said in a previous statement: "Tudor Grange Academy Worcester was made aware of the arrest of Mr Aidan Moss on 14 December 2016, at which point he was immediately suspended from the Academy, in line with our employment policies.

"The academy formally dismissed Mr Moss from his post in March 2017 after receiving further information from the police.

"During this time we have been liaising closely with the investigating officers who have been able to assure us that his arrest does not relate in any way to any pupils, past or present, at the school.

"Like all schools, Tudor Grange Academy Worcester has stringent checks and procedures in place to safeguard pupils.

"All staff are vetted using the disclosure and barring service and must attend annual safeguarding training, as well as commit to codes of conduct that include e-safety and acceptable internet use policies."