A senior teacher who filmed boys on school trips as they slept in a dormitory has been jailed for 12 months.

Brendan Moore also downloaded from the internet over 2,000 indecent photographs of boys aged six to 15.

Twenty one of the vile pictures showed victims suffering at the hands of sadistic adults, Worcester Crown Court heard.

And it was revealed by prosecutor Tariq Shakoor that two boys made complaints against 55-year-old Moore alleging sexual abuse in the 1990s.

Moore, the sacked former head of English and history at St Richard's private boarding school in Bredenbury, near Bromyard, pleaded guilty to 20 counts of possession or the making of indecent photographs of children. He asked for 14 similar counts to be taken into consideration.

Judge Andrew Geddes said the internet crimes between 2001 and last year "encouraged others to indulge in this horrific trade".

The filming of boys at Kielder activity centre in Northumberland - when Moore's movie camera zoomed in on their groins - was a gross breach of trust, the judge added.

He ordered Moore never to work again with children under 16 and told him to sign the sex offenders' register for ten years.

The defendant's prison licence was extended to three years for him to attend a sex rehabilitation programme.

Moore, of Pumpkin Cottage, Burley Gate, near Bromyard, was arrested in April last year after police in Hertfordshire (correct) began investigating sexual complaints by boys of alleged events at Kielder in 1995 and 1997.

Those complaints were not proceeded with, said Mr Shakoor, but Moore's home was searched by West Mercia detectives who seized two computers.

On them and on disc was found the child porn, besides 45,000 photographs of boys aged eight to 16 enjoying sport and outdoor activities.

Moore, a compulsive hoarder, took the normal pictures while acting as a school photographer.

Also discovered was a rucksack stashed with 48 pairs of boys' underpants and child abuse pictures printed onto A4 paper, said Mr Shakoor.

Moore told police he was interested in the male torso but denied he had any sexual interest in children.

He said he filmed pupils on school trips while keeping checks on them as they slept.

Michael Duck, defending, said Moore worked in the financial industry before spending 21 years teaching.

He had helped change the lives of thousands of children and testimonials sent to the court showed he was widely respected.

He had never taken an indecent photograph himself nor had any physical contact with a boy. But a psychiatrist concluded that the male body excited him.

Since Moore's arrest, he had paid for therapy and faced up to his problems.

Mr Duck said he had lost the career he loved and been humiliated in public by the revelation of his secret crimes.

ends