A DROITWICH Spa man has been hauled before the courts to face charges of downloading child porn from the internet.
Richard Stevens, of Crofters Green, was among six men appearing at Worcester Magistrates Courts as a result of Operation Ore - a major police investigation into the activities of suspected paedophiles.
Stevens, aged 23, is charged with possessing 1,974 indecent photographs of children and faces six charges of distributing photographs of children through internet chat rooms or through e-mail.
He is also accused of nine counts of making indecent photographs of children, which refer to downloading images from the Internet onto a computer hard drive.
The Westlands resident indicated no plea and will be committed to Worcester Crown Court on Thursday, May 1. He has been remanded on bail.
A police spokesman said 84 people had been arrested in Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire during four months of investigations. Inquiries continue and some computer equipment is yet to be examined.
Operation Ore is the UK's largest ever police hunt for internet paedophiles. It resulted in more than 1,000 arrests, out of a list of 6,000 suspects.
Townshend
The arrest of a computer consultant in Texas led to a criminal investigation by police forces across the globe. Credit card details used to access material gave police direct leads on 250,000 people worldwide, including The Who's Pete Townshend.
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