The site was run by Thomas Reedy, 39, and his wife, Janice, 34, who made millions by charging monthly subscribers about £20. Subscribers gave their credit card details and were sent an e-mail with a user login and password. With the password, members were able download images of child pornography.

At one stage the Reedys had 75,000 subscribers worldwide and were making more than $1 million (£620,000) a month. But after police raided their home in Fort Worth in 1999, Reedy received one of the world’s longest jail sentences, 1,335 years, and his wife was given 14 years.

At their home detectives discovered a list of the Landslide subscribers. They then began a laborious process of tracing thousands of credit card numbers in an operation codenamed Candyman.

The names of 7,272 British subscribers were passed on to the UK’s National Criminal Intelligence Service in April last year, who then reduced the number to 6,500 as some had died or fled the country.

These included 50 police officers. Among them was

PC Anthony Goodridge, an exhibits officer in the Soham inquiry, who was jailed for six months in March on child pornography charges. British police then launched Operation Ore, the British arm of Candyman, and found that among those implicated were lawyers, businessmen, civil servants, teachers and social workers.

The most prominent name to emerge from the list of suspects was Pete Townshend, 57, guitarist with The Who. He admitted accessing the Landslide site but claimed that he was doing it as research for a campaign against child abuse. He was cautioned and placed on the sex offenders register for five years.

• Paedophiles are taking action to thwart police investigations into their activities. A report by the National Criminal Intelligence Service says that they debrief people who have been arrested to find out police techniques and how online sex networks vet new applicants.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Looking for romance on the Blairs' love bus
• Children 'immersed in culture of violence'
• Hunt for black gold sweeps the country