Tim Luce is due to be sentenced by the Royal Court on 8 July and has been told that he has got to await sentence behind bars after entering guilty pleas.

The Royal Court heard that Luce’s computers were seized after he had an “inappropriate conversation” with a young girl, and that when they were checked by police officers they were found to contain indecent images.

On an Apple Mac laptop, police found 1,679 images and 29 videos – of which 25 were of the very worst level. A Sony laptop revealed a further 37 images, and Luce’s iPhone revealed a further 44.

Luce admitted charges relating to possessing those images, and also admitted a further charge relating to distributing a further 12 images over the internet.

Luce’s lawyer had urged the court to let him go free ahead of his sentencing  on 8 July to look after his elderly parents, but the prosecution said that a prison sentence was “inevitable” in his case, adding that he had also taken “creep” photos – pictures taken of young girls without their knowledge – which he had distributed on the internet.