A former councillor appeared before a crown court judge charged with child and animal porn offences.

Robert Bate, of Moncrieffe Close, Dudley, was a Tory councillor for Wycombe District Council, in Buckinghamshire, until he resigned from his post in September last year and returned to the Dudley borough.

Appearing at Wycombe Magistrates for a committal hearing, the 62 year-old was released on bail to appear at Aylesbury Crown Court on May 15.

The ex-councillor who was also a Parish Council chairman, was charged with 17 counts of making indecent photos of children. He stood accused of four counts of distributing indecent images of children and one charge of possessing to show or distribute indecent photographs of children. The ex-Conservative party whip was also charged with possessing extreme pornographic images with animals and with intentionally encouraging the commission of an either way offence.

Bate was sentenced to three years in prison, and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for an indefinite period.

The name of convicted paedophile and former councillor Bob Bate could be removed from the chain worn by the chairman of Hazlemere Parish Council. On ordering new links for the chain, the council decided last month that the shamed ex chairman's name would remain etched on a gold plate for now.

But Councillor Natasha Howard reignited the issue at last night's full council meeting. HPC's vice chairman said "We need to reassess removing his name from the chain as [what he did] it is disgusting."

The council decided it would revisit the matter in six months. But Cllr Judy Weaver said "What he did in his private life is nothing to do with this council."

Bate – a former Wycombe District and Hazlemere Parish councillor - who was living in Dudley at time of arrest was jailed in 2012 for three years after admitting to the possession of thousands of abusive images of children and animals. The court was told the images included pictures of children aged from six months to 16 years old. In sentencing, Judge Simon Davis said "I have never seen images as horrible, moving and dreadful as these."

The former Wycombe Conservative party whip was arrested following a tip off.

A disgraced former Wycombe District Councillor who was jailed for distributing Child Abuse images is back in prison after downloading more illegal photos onto a laptop being monitored by police.

Former WDC Conservative whip and Hazlemere Parish Council chairman Bob Bate was sentenced to three years in 2012 after admitting to a string of offences, relating to thousands of sickening images and videos of young children and animals found on his computer.

Bate, of Beechfield Way, Hazlemere, was released from prison after serving 19 months - but within weeks he had started downloading more indecent images of children.

The shamed former council chairman is now back behind bars, jailed for a further nine months after conceding he is sexually attracted to young girls.

When he was released from prison in December 2013, Bate was ordered to have 'risk management' software installed on his home computers to allow police officers to monitor his internet habits.

In June 2014 - a year before his licence was due to expire following his release - officers realised he had downloaded images of naked children as young as six onto his laptop.

The judge who jailed him on the previous occasion told Bate that the pictures in his possession were "the worst images I have ever seen".

Mr Smith told the court today "Because of the risk management software on the computer, in June 2014 they picked up on the images which had been created in April. They went to his house on August 12 and seized his laptop. He said he hadn't been looking for any images of children, more he had an interest in nudism."

Mr Smith added "The prosecution say this is a complete disregard for the court order made on the previous occasion."

Tim Greaves, defending the 66-year-old, said "There was the original denial in the police station interview, and the explanation given was that he was interested in naturism and nudism, and this was accidental. He doesn't accept that now. He recognises that he knew what he was doing and recognises that he has a problem." Adding "The reason for his offending is obvious: he is sexually attracted to young girls."

Mr Greaves added that Bate had not been able to access treatment programmes while in prison - which the former councillor found "harrowing" and "frightening" – and therefore not been able to come to terms with his offending.

Referring to the 27 previous offences that Bate had admitted, Judge John Cole, sitting at Amersham Crown Court, said "These are offences that give the very fuel and lifeblood to the sickening torture of young children. Just as handling stolen goods allows burglars the chance to offend, it's people like you who keep this sickening industry very much alive and flourishing."

Bate was already on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely, but Judge Cole made him subject to it for a concurrent ten year term.

Judge Cole also ordered for the laptop to be forfeited and destroyed.

Bate first moved to Hazlemere in 1983 and became a parish councillor in 1991. He was also the parish council's chairman for three years. He was first elected as a district councillor in July 2002, following his original conviction, Bate had his name removed from the Hazlemere Parish Council chain. His name was added during his time as chairman of the authority, but former colleagues said they had a "moral responsibility" to remove it.