Councillor warned he could face jail over indecent photos of children

Steven Bayes, 56, who was also a Cabinet member at Hull Council with responsibility for overseeing long-term regeneration, until he was suspended in 2016, was found guilty of two counts of making indecent photographs of children and a third of possessing extreme pornographic images, involving animals and men.

Recorder Richard Woolfall warned Bayes, a nurse at Hull Royal Infirmary until being suspended in 2016, that he could face a jail sentence, adding:"All sentencing options will be open to the court, including custody."

Bayes will have to sign the Sex Offenders Register.

During the case it emerged Bayes kept hundreds of pornographic images in a desktop folder Steven Pictures/Despicable which he posted on a Twitter account under the “eyecatching” handle Satan666Lord.

He was charged after police raided his flat in August 2016 and took away a laptop which was found to contain the illegal material, from an iOS back-up from two iPads.

A forensic examination revealed indecent images and film clips of children thought to be as young as seven.

Det Insp Kevin Foster, from Humberside Police, said Bayes “has shown no remorse, continuously denying his culpability. I hope today’s verdict sends a message out that no one is above the law.”

Bayes spent nearly five years on the Co-operative Group Board - including as deputy chair - but was voted off in a shake-up in 2014, as the group prepared to announce losses of more than £2bn.

After the verdicts - all on a majority of 10 to two after five hours of deliberations by the jury - Bayes said he was "disappointed."