A FORMER magistrate from the South Petherton area has been jailed for four and a half years after being convicted of a string of child porn offences.

Martyn Helliwell, 49, was found guilty of 17 charges involving the making and distribution of indecent images of children and perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing at Bristol Crown Court. He was sentenced today.

In addition to his jail sentence, Helliwell will serve a three-year extended licence and has been placed on the sex offender's register for life.

He has also been given a lifetime Sexual Offender's Prevention Order and has been disqualified from working with children.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection agency provided information to police which resulted in Helliwell's arrest in June 2008.

Computers containing more than 780 images of a child abuse nature were seized in the investigation, which formed part of Operation Starlight, a national probe into sexual offences against children.

A specialist team of police investigators carried out a complex enquiry to identify the full extent of Helliwell's illegal activities, which included the distribution of 112 indecent images to other internet users.

Police also discovered attempts by him to pervert the course of justice by seeking to provide false alibi evidence.

DI Becky Cawsey, of the police's Public Protection Unit, said: "I hope that Helliwell's conviction sends the strongest possible message to others who are tempted to get involved in child abuse of this nature that we will be relentless in bringing them to justice.”