Councillor 'had extreme pornographic images' on laptop, court told

Steven Bayes appeared before Hull Crown Court today charged with two counts of making indecent photographs of children and one of possessing extreme pornographic images.

The court heard that police raided his house in Hull in August 2016 and took away a Hewlett Packard laptop computer.

It was examined and found to contain illegal material much of which came from an IOS back-up to the laptop from an iPad.

Claire Holmes, prosecuting, told the jury that the illegal material, contained seven extreme pornographic images "which were located on the desktop of the laptop computer in two files.

"One was called 'Steven pictures'".

Mr Bayes, who represented Orchard Park and Greenwood, and was suspended in 2016, was cautioned and during a police interview denied having any sexual interest in children.

"He knew nothing about the material from the laptop and suggested other people had access," said Ms Holmes.

He also said his computer was not password protected and claimed his bank account had been hacked.

Miss Holmes told the jurors the counts had been divided by category, and nine still images and three movies in the first count were in category A, the most serious.

Count two relates to three category B movies, and count three to 34 extreme pornographic images.

The Labour councillor has pleaded not guilty.

The trial continues.