A PERSHORE businessman pleaded guilty midway through his trial at Worcester Crown Court to a child porn offence.

John Huntley told the jury he had not knowingly subscribed to Landslide Productions, an American agent for websites showing children being sexually abused.

But after stumbling through his evidence, he admitted an offence of incitement to distribute indecent child photographs.

Judge Michael Mott granted him bail while a pre-sentence report is prepared.

Huntley, the 63-year-old boss of an aerials firm, was traced after making a credit card payment for child pornography and three more for adult pornography.

But when police raided his home in Three Springs Road, Pershore, they found a software package had deleted incriminating material from his two computers, said Martin Butterworth, prosecuting.

They were able to retrieve his password to Landslide. Credit card statements showed payments to the company between May 1 and July 17, 1999.

At his home was a magazine called Lolita, a name which mirrored the names of the porn websites.

During the trial it emerged that Huntley had been convicted six years ago of taking an indecent photograph of a naked child on a Welsh beach.

Landslide's boss Thomas Reedy was jailed for 1,335 years in 2001 and his wife for 14 years for their roles in distributing pornography. Their company, which made 89 per cent of its profits from child pornography images, was fined seven million dollars.