A FATHER who bought a laptop for his daughters was horrified to discover it contained graphic pornography.

Tam Dallas bought the second-hand Acer laptop from CEX in Worcester for £300.

When he was setting it up at home he discovered graphic videos and images had not been wiped from the computer’s hard drive.

He said: “I find it quite disgusting. I thought I would be going home to an as-new laptop, but instead I get this. They are really graphic downloads. It is just grotesque.”

Mr Dallas, of Worcester Road, Pershore, has recently divorced from his wife and his six-year-old and 12-year-old daughters visit him at the weekend.

He wanted to buy the computer so they could keep in touch with their friends using on-line instant messaging.

The 37-year-old said if he had bought the computer just days later his daughter would have certainly seen the images.

“She would have been so excited about it and grabbed it before I could see what was on there,” he said.

Mr Dallas has now returned the computer to the shop.

Managers at the store, in Pump Street, gave Mr Dallas a full refund and a £30 voucher. They will also now send him a further £100 voucher.

Jonathan Cronin, marketing manager at CEX, said the company’s procedure was to wipe all data from equipment before it went on the shelf.

This is the second breach of the firm’s data policy since it started trading in 1992.

“The procedure was not followed and we are very sorry for any offence caused,” said Mr Cronin.

“When this was brought to the attention of our area manager everything in the store was double-checked.”

He said that although he was unable to discuss internal disciplinary action, staff had been retrained: “The person concerned is going to be dealt with sympathetically but we will ensure they understand the consequences of not following our policy.

“CEX takes this very seriously. We would not be where we are as a company if we offended our customers in this way.”