A former BBC sports producer with a home in Brighton has been spared prison after he admitted collecting child porn.
Martyn Smith, 44, who worked on Sport Relief with Gary Lineker, was handed a suspended prison sentence at Southwark Crown Court.
Police raided a property in Chichester Terrace, Kemp Town, which belonged to Smith.
They also raided another home belonging to him, in Garrick Close, Wandsworth.
In total they found 1,600 images belonging to Smith, who had also taken part in email exchanges about child sex.
The investigation – Operation Algebra – is one of Britain’s biggest paedophile investigations. It was started by Lothian and Borders Police.
When the trail led to Smith – who now lives in Danehurst Street, Fulham – Scottish officers tipped off the Metropolitan Police.
Smith was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years.
Judge Andrew Goymer told Smith that some of the material was “quite unspeakable” and “repulsive in the extreme”.
The former BBC man was ordered to take part in an internet sex offenders’ treatment programme.
He will also be subject to two years’ supervision, a five-year sexual offences prevention order intended to control his access to children and he must register as a sex offender for the next ten years.
Eight other men who were prosecuted as part of Operation Algebra have already been given jail sentences of up to ten years.
Google News is carrying a Press Association report about the case which can be read here.