Child porn 'risk to relationship'

Craig Meehan has pleaded not guilty to all charges

The former partner of Shannon Matthews' mother has told a court he would not have risked his relationship by viewing indecent images of children.

Craig Meehan, 22, denies downloading 133 indecent images on a computer at the home he shared with Karen Matthews in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire.

Police found the images during their search for missing Shannon.

Mr Meehan told judge Jonathan Bennett at Dewsbury magistrates he had too much to lose by looking at such material.

Under cross-examination, Mr Meehan was asked by prosecutor David Holderness if anything relating to children had ever appeared on the computer.

'Naked women'

He replied: "I've got more to lose by looking at child porn.

"I wouldn't want to throw a four-year relationship away on something so ridiculous as that."

The former supermarket fishmonger had earlier admitted viewing adult pornography on his computer.

Mr Holderness added: "Is it the case that you have started to look at adult pornography and then perhaps started to look at other material, some of which then turns out to be child porn?"

Mr Meehan replied: "I would disagree with that."

He said he would use terms such as "naked women" to look for adult pornography but denied entering the words child pornography.

When asked about the fact there were more than 600 references to Lolita found on his computer, he said: "I don't know how to spell it, don't know what it means."

Mr Meehan denies 11 charges of possessing 133 indecent images of children relating to images on his computer and one on his mobile phone.

He told the court the first time he saw images of a topless 15-year-old girl on his mobile phone was when it was shown to him by police.

The trial continues.