LAST month, following the conviction of former Malvern Hills district councillor Michael Angell on child porn charges, we said in this column: "we trust the judge will sentence him appropriately".

It seems our trust was misplaced.

Yesterday, Angell received a suspended jail sentence, a £2,500 fine and was ordered to attending a sexual offending programme.

He was also given a community order with a supervision requirement for 36 months.

The judge, David McEvoy, said part of Angell's punishment was "to expose you as behaving like a dirty old man".

We think they are inappropriate words. We think it is an inappropriate sentence.

The phrase "dirty old man" has a comical meaning for many people, bringing to mind scenes from a saucy seaside postcard.

Angell is not a "dirty old man". Let us call a spade a spade. He is a pervert who downloaded disgusting images of children from the internet.

As soon as he did so, he became part of a chain of child abuse.

That is why we think a short custodial sentence would have been appropriate in this case.

We appreciate Angell has lost his political career along with his good name.

Being shamed publicly is no doubt a punishment in itself.

But if the child porn industry is to be tackled properly then those tempted to use its awful services must be deterred from doing so.

Jail sentences would serve that purpose.