THE NSPCC has praised Swindon police for uncovering a haul of child porn. Officers discovered more than 93,000 depraved images when they raided the home of Lee Adams.

Adams, 35, of Alpine Close, Shaw, allowed other paedophiles to copy his collection.

He pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography at Swindon Crown Court, and faces a lengthy jail term.

The collection is one of the largest of paedophilic images ever sized in Wiltshire.

Jeanette Chipping, NSPCC services manager in Swindon, said: "Behind these indecent, abusive images are real children who will have suffered immense damage and trauma.

"Children used in this way suffer a life-sentence knowing that a record of their sexual abuse can be endlessly circulated on the Internet.

"Child pornography is instrumental in the ongoing sexual abuse of children within prostitution, sex rings and trafficking, within and outside the family." The fact children know images of their abuse is being circulated makes it worse.

"This can prevent or delay children seeking help or increase their fear of telling someone what is happening to them," she said.

The charity has carried out a study into internet child porn and found that on average 20 children were abused to create 35,000 images.

That's an average of 1,750 images per child.

During one six-week period they discovered 140,000 images were posted on the web.

The organisation wants more research into child pornography, particularly its impact on children.

It advocates a database of arrests and prosecutions to identify links between child porn and other forms of abuse.

Tamash Lal