Doctor sentenced over child porn

A children's hospital doctor has escaped a jail sentence after admitting downloading child pornography.

David Moore, a consultant at Birmingham Children's Hospital, pleaded guilty to four counts of downloading the images while searching for adult pornography.

The 47-year-old of Woodview Drive, Edgbaston, Birmingham, was given a two year community supervision order.

Birmingham Crown Court heard he has been suspended from his job as an accident and emergency consultant.

Moore, who also works at Birmingham City Hospital, was caught after he entered the date of birth of a 14-year-old when accessing a pornographic website in 2005.

'Bitter regret'

Police were alerted by an automatic email.

When officers examined his computer, they discovered three indecent images of children categorised as level one and one categorised as level four, the second highest.

Sentencing, Judge Elizabeth Fisher said the doctor had already suffered an "incalculable" loss both professionally and personally.

"I accept that you bitterly regret those 20 minutes or so in the early hours of the morning of 24 March 2005 when you were surfing the internet and these images appeared."

Michael Fowler, Moore's lawyer, said the two year suspension had cost the consultant hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost earnings.

Moore initially denied the charges, but changed his plea four days into the trial.

He was ordered to pay £25,000 court costs and will be on the sex offenders register for five years.

The General Medical Council will hold a misconduct hearing.