A FORMER teacher from Kidderminster has been jailed for nine months after downloading images of child pornography - including one of a newborn baby.

James Roberts saved the images on a computer at Stourbridge's Redhill School, where he was working as a temporary science teacher.

The 24-year-old was jailed last Thursday for making indecent photographs of children.

Halesowen magistrates heard how Roberts told police he had downloaded 200 images from the internet after typing the words "gay porn" into the search engine.

Five of the pictures were of children - including the baby - and others depicting youngsters aged five to 14.

Roberts, of Goldthorne Road, Kidderminster, was a teacher at the Stourbridge secondary school but was due to be made a permanent member of staff.

Karen Hackett, prosecuting, said on February 2 this year it was reported perverted images had been seen on a PC at the school. They were found under Roberts's username and had been downloaded the previous month.

Mrs Hackett added Roberts was "curious" about the images of young adults but had "no interest in the images of children".

Janet Holman, defending, said: "Mr Roberts downloaded a small amount of material for personal use and not commercial gain. There was a relatively small amount of images in this case."

Roberts was immediately suspended and police seized the computer, finding the indecent images on its hard drive and memory stick.

Magistrates' chairman, Brian Slater, said: "There is no other appropriate way of dealing with this matter because of the very serious nature of the offences.

"The offences are extremely disturbing due to your involvement with young children."