A POLICE officer from East Lancashire who helped track down paedophiles online has walked free from court after he was caught with nearly 1,000 downloaded indecent images of children at his home.

Before the discovery Lee Vincent Kelly, 50, formerly from Burnley, had been due to receive a commendation from Ian Hopkins, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), for his work in a child sex crimes unit and a previous undercover drugs squad role.

But the honour was withdrawn when the offending in his spare time came to light , in December 2016. He admitted his guilt before he was due to stand trial at Preston Crown Court last November.

Passing a 10-month suspended jail term, Judge Andrew Woolman said: "You have damaged Greater Manchester Police by your actions. You have damaged yourself, you lost your job some months ago. You have brought shame and disgrace upon yourself, your have blighted the rest of your life to some extent."

Kelly pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images between 2009 and 2014, including 114 category A pictures, the most serious level of child pornography.

He insisted, in a basis of plea, he was not seeking sexual gratification by his offending.

Richard Haworth, prosecuting, said the Crown Prosecution Service "did not accept this as such" but would not seek a hearing to challenge his claim.

He told the court Kelly worked for his force's undercover online team from 2008 and became responsibile for the welfare of officers using false profiles pretending to be children or paedophiles.

His team operated from a secure building and work from home was "only rarely authorised", the court was told.

Lisa Roberts QC, defending, said Kelly conceded he had gone about his job in a "wholly improper way" and had shown genuine remorse and contrition.

She said he had faced work pressures during his career and his marriage had collapsed about 10 years ago.

Kelly had let himself down, along with his family and the colleagues he served alongside for many years, she added.

Miss Roberts said the police had lost someone who was, before this, "a decent and hard-working police officer."