Despite using his credit card to register and download child pornography former councillor David Smith today insisted they got there by mistake. FBI investigators in America discovered Felixstowe councillor David Smith was viewing child porn on the internet.

Smith - who today resigned as a Conservative councillor and has "withdrawn from public life" - downloaded the pornographic images onto his home computer. He was formally cautioned by police and had to sign the Sex Offenders Register.

After the trial Smith, described himself as "a bit battered and bruised", and still denied he had intentionally downloaded the images. "I do accept that the images in question were on my computer and that I must have downloaded them, but I state categorically that I did not download them intentionally." he said "The fact that I have received a caution underlines that the images were at the very lowest end of the scale of seriousness.I'd like to make it clear that I totally support the work of the police in trying to identify genuine criminals."

He went on (and on, and on) "The thought of child pornography abhors me just as much as it does anybody else and my case shows the dangers that exist on the internet, especially with spam e-mails and message boards where the content is unknown. I made a very serious but genuine mistake and I am sad that this case ever needed to go to court."

After the trial Smith withdraw from public life entirely, resigning as a Suffolk Coastal and Felixstowe Town councillor, and as a governor of Langer Primary School. "Even though there was no intent on my part with regard to the charges laid against me, I believe that some members of the public will retain a 'no smoke without fire' attitude towards me which will lead to a lack of confidence in my ability to continue." he said.

"There will forever be a stain on my character and a perception problem that I will not be able to fully overcome. adding "I would like to place on record my thanks to all those that have given me love and support during this difficult time, especially my family and close friends. I'm a bit battered and bruised, but life goes on. One chapter closes, another opens."

At his last court hearing, Smith indicated he would be pleading not guilty to the 10 charges of making indecent photographs of a child under the age of 16, but at the actual hearing proper he admitted the offences and accepted a formal police caution.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said "He was provided to us from a list the FBI passed to the police in this country of subscribers for a pornographic website. So from that we believe he did use his credit card to subscribe to that, and by admitting his guilt and accepting the caution he has accepted that."

Nine charges were classed at level one, the least serious of the five levels used to describe pornographic images. Level one related to children posing. There was one charge at level two which related to sexual activity between children.

"Whilst this is a relatively minor case of its type, we believe it is in the public interest and hence our responsibility to prosecute all offences against vulnerable groups to the full extent of the law." said the CPS spokesman. "This illustrates the advances made in both the detection and prosecution of cases in Suffolk involving children with many more cases coming before the court in the coming few months."

Outcome:

A perverted ex-Conservative Councillor has been jailed for his sickening abuse of two young boys from more than three decades ago.

David Smith carried out a catalogue of sexual abuse on one of his victims whilst also exposed himself to another young boy in an attempt to get him to perform a sex act on him. Then spent £10,000 buying the silence of the first victim as he showered him in gifts and took him on lavish shopping trips to Liverpool and Edinburgh. The disgraced councillor also gave one of his victims cannabis before abusing him after the youngster passed out from smoking the drug.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the former Middlesbrough councillor carried out the abuse on his victims over a four-year period.

The boy told the jury "He used to buy me all sorts - he must have spent £6,000 to £10,000 on me easy. It was clothes, it was drugs, I used to smoke cannabis a lot and he used buy me it. He used to buy me it every day, at least £20 a day. After I smoked it I would just go to sleep and when I woke up, he would be touching me." Smith treated the boy to days out including one to a football stadium, before he had sex with him.

The victim's former girlfriend gave evidence at Smith's trial, telling the court that the abuse had "destroyed their relationship" and that he was "traumatised" by what had happened to him. The victim said that abuse had ruined his time at school, saying he used to get "top scores but then it went downhill".

He told the court: "I started smoking cannabis. I didn't want to go to school anymore. My behaviour went off the rails."

Smith tried to draw the other teenage boy into sexual activity by repeatedly exposing himself at the youngster. During the trial, the victim gave evidence behind a screen: "He would flash me and as a kid I was shocked and didn't know where to put myself. After a month and a half, it went from flashing at me to him asking me to touch him. It got to the point where he was getting closer to me and got more insistent."

Smith tried to bribe the young boy into agreeing to sex acts with chocolate over the course of three months; the court heard that the boy was scared and stayed away from Smith.

Teesside Crown Court also heard that Smith also contacted a young girl on Facebook, sending her messages asking if she would perform sex acts. On Monday, Judge Timothy Stead said: "It would appear that essentially this defendant was continuing his abuse. When one avenue closed, he opened up another."

During the trial, the court heard how the allegations only came to light in 2016 when the first victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, broke down and told his mother and girlfriend. The man said Smith would regularly buy him computer games and take him on shopping sprees in an attempt to buy his silence.

Judge Stead added: "The defendant engaged in escalating sexual practices (with his two male victims) and indeed at one point he turned a young girl to perform sexual acts with him." adding " "It is clear that the defendant was working his way through the victims one after the other."

Due to a number of delays, including the trial being moved due to the Covid pandemic, Smith finally had to face his accusers in court.

The second victim, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, was a teenager when Smith would expose himself and then ask him to touch his genitals.

Jurors decided that Smith had raped one of the victims on a number of occasions during his campaign of sexual abuse.

Smith, of Rainsford Crescent, Middlesbrough, was found guilty of 11 counts of inciting or engaging in sexual activity with a child following his trial in 2022.

Judge Timothy Stead jailed the child sex abuser for a total of 12 years after hearing how his vile behaviour had impacted on the lives of his victims, particularly the child who suffered the worst abuse. He said: "It did serious damage to his childhood, his emotions and his behaviour, and he is not over it yet."

Jon Harley, in mitigation, said his client continues to maintain his innocence and was a man of previous good character.

Smith was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order to protect his two victims and a third person, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and issued with an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.