A man who downloaded internet pictures of child pornography fainted in court as he was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Police searched Julian Pannell's home after a tip-off from the US authorities about purchases he made from an American website.

Officers found 16 images and Pannell, 50, of Pretoria Avenue, Laindon, admitted downloading the pictures in order to sell them to a carpenter called Tim he said he had met through working on building sites.

Pannell was the latest to be jailed under Operation Ore - a major international operation against indecent images of children on the internet.

Pannell received the toughest sentence yet handed out to someone arrested as part of Ore.

He was jailed at Southend Crown Court yesterday after admitting 16 offences of possessing child pornography with intent to show them to another.

Published Tuesday November 25, 2003

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