A DEVON County Council worker has been convicted of

downloading child pornography images from the internet.

At Exeter Crown Court, 44-year-old Anthony Fell was found

guilty by a jury on six of the 11 charges he faced. He was

cleared on the remaining counts and sentence was adjourned for

the preparation of reports.

During the course of the trial the prosecution claimed that

Fell, who worked as a management and information administrator

for the children and young persons business unit, was caught

after a senior audit manager received a tip-off that someone

was downloading unauthorised software on to his work

computer.

The subsequent investigation led to Fell and, in addition to

his council computer being seized, police raided his home and

took away other computer equipment.

Fell, of Cheyne Rise, Exeter, maintained that other people

used his computer at work and as far as the images allegedly

found on his computers at home he said he had downloaded adult

pornography and the indecent pictures of children must have

come through accidentally. He said he had no knowledge of those

images and also said that a fellow employee at the council had

asked him to research the My Space social networking site on

the internet to make sure that it was safe for children to

use.

Fell, who denied all 11 charges, was released on bail. He

will be sentenced by Judge Paul Darlow on September 22.