Computer equipment suspected of containing a huge library of child abuse images should not be returned to an expert witness, Britain’s leading investigator in the field of child sex crimes said yesterday.

Jim Gamble lent his support to Colin Port, Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset, who could face jail for defying a High Court order to return 87 hard drives to a computer forensic analyst. Mr Port believes that it would be a neglect of his duty to release the material without examining it.

The material was seized by Mr Port’s officers from the home of Jim Bates, who was placed under investigation after obtaining a copy of a suspected paedophile’s computer hard drive from a Bristol police station. Police also found 2,500 images of abuse.

Bates was used widely for years as an expert witness in court but was convicted last year of falsifying his qualifications. He took Avon and Somerset Police to the High Court and won a ruling that the search of his home was unlawful and his property should be returned.

Mr Gamble, head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, said that Mr Port might be committing an offence if he were to return the material.

In a letter to The Times, he added: “The fact that hard copy child abuse images were found on the premises during the search is cause for reasonable suspicion that the drives seized may contain similar images. I doubt that the public would expect the police to return these items to anyone in such circumstances.

“Images of children being sexually abused should only be shared in strictly controlled circumstances. Any unnecessary retention leads to the re-victimisation of the child.”

John Carr, of the Children’s Charities Coalition for Internet Safety, said that the disputed material should be examined by Interpol at the earliest opportunity. It would be “completely unacceptable and crazy” to return the material before it had been examined by experts.

He added: “Interpol has a database of 500,000 images, against which all this material should be checked to see if there are unidentified children who may still be at risk.”

Bates says that he needs the material for forthcoming appeal cases and cannot work while the police are retaining it. His lawyers have served contempt of court papers on Mr Port.

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