A man has been given an indeterminate prison sentence of a minimum of 45 months after admitting running a global paedophile forum.

Unemployed Phillip Thompson, 27, who lived with his mother at Gooseport Road, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, called himself "the librarian" and operated the website which stored around 250,000 pictures of children.

More than 3,000 were of levels four and five - the worst kind of child abuse images. The youngsters were aged between 6 and 7 and 11 and 12, although the site also featured pictures of much younger children and babies.

When police and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceops) discovered the website they found its front pages looked legal, but users would be redirected to a "below the radar" secure site showing free and disturbing images of children.

During police interviews, Thompson admitted sharing the pornographic images with other like-minded people across the world and he told police how he had also set up his own two online forums. Around 10,000 users accessed the site, although some may have registered more than once.

At Teesside Crown Court, Thompson admitted to 27 charges, including 16 counts of making indecent photographs of children, seven of distributing indecent photographs of children and one count of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

He was the moderator for an online forum used by paedophiles across the world to trade in child pornography, the court heard.

It emerged after sentencing that 15 British children have been saved from the clutches of paedophiles after Thompson was unmasked and his online activities stopped.

Prosecutor Harry Hadfield told the court police raided Thompson's home in February this year and recovered two desk top computers and a laptop, as well as a selection of other computer paraphernalia.

"Forensic analysis by computer experts established that the defendant had 241,000 indecent photographs of children, being one of the largest seizures of indecent photographs in the UK," he said.

"The defendant's role was to police the website, which gave him the opportunity to transfer these images to his computer. The evidence recovered from his computer showed he had amassed a vast collection of indecent photographs of children.

"It appeared the defendant kept some of the most serious images to use as trading chips.

"The Crown would say that this collection of indecent photographs and the subsequent police investigation revealed that this defendant has been involved in the distribution of these photographs for the last four or five years."

Mr Hadfield added that 51 arrests had been made as a result of the investigation into Thompson and inquiries are continuing.

Detective Sergeant Becky Driscoll, of Cleveland Police, said Thompson thought he was operating "below the radar".

"He was integral. He played a key role. He was trusted by others members of this site, so much so that he stored horrific images of child abuse on their behalf. He described the 250,000 child abuse images as his collection. He was prepared to share that with acquaintances he found on his forum.

"This site would have existed without him, but it would not have been operating as effectively."

Jim Gamble, chief executive of the Ceop, added: "This website, whilst appearing to operate on the margins of legality, was clearly a front for the sinister, sexual abuse of children and an image trading ground for paedophiles.

"There is a simple message for those individuals like Thompson, who think they can go to this website - or indeed any space on the internet - and discuss their sexual interest in children and share images.

"You leave a digital footprint. We will track you down and hold you to account."

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