A hero' who pulled a drowning man from the river Severn has admitted possessing a video clip of a boy being raped.

Ian Wood, aged 37, of Lansdowne Road, off Astwood Road, Worcester, admitted at Worcester Magistrates Court to possessing two indecent images of children - an image of a girl and a nine-second video of a boy, believed to be aged between nine and 10, being raped by an adult.

The part-time rock climbing instructor and one time PE teacher is now facing the possibility of jail.

In July 2003, Wood twice rescued a man from drowning in the river Severn. He won an award from the Royal Humane Society for his actions and the Worcester News ran a story describing him as "an all-action hero".

The qualified teacher, who was then a sports instructor for Sport Martley, a project based at The Chantry High School, near Worcester, had dived into the river at New Bridge after spotting a man struggling in the water.

When the rescued man threw himself back seconds after being hauled out, Wood also dived back in.

At Thursday's hearing, magistrates had to decide whether to sentence Wood themselves or to send him to crown court where a judge would be able to jail him for more than six months.

Mark Johnson, prosecuting, said the "extremely serious images" - which rated level four on a scale from level one, erotic poses, to level five, sadism or bestiality - were so indecent that Wood could only be sentenced by a crown court.

However, Chris Hilton, defending, argued that Wood had only possessed the clip, not made it. According to legal guidelines, he said, Wood should only be sentenced at crown court if he had either a large amount of material at level one or two, or a small amount at level three of above - and a single clip did not fall into this category.

Disagreeing, the bench refused jurisdiction and ordered Wood to be sentenced at Worcester Crown Court on Friday, June 1. He was released on unconditional bail until then.