A FORMER Weston mayor has appeared in court charged with making and possessing hundreds of indecent images and movies of children.

Phillip Judd, of Worle, faced magistrates at North Somerset Courthouse on May 9 to answer 12 charges relating to the possession of child abuse images and video files.

The 59-year-old arrived in a black leather jacket, glasses and a tweed flat cap – which he removed whilst in the dock.

The former Conservative councillor did not enter a plea, but listened while 11 charges of downloading indecent photographs of a child between September 2011 and May 2013 were read out. He was also charged with one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

Prosecutor Jane Cooper told the court the images and movies ranged from category one to five – five being the most severe and involving child sex abuse and rape.

She said one image and 20 movie files allegedly found on Judd’s computer were deemed as category five and 52 images and 91 movie files were rated as category four.

Prosecutors say another 152 images and 49 movies of the lower ratings were also found.

Judd was released on unconditional bail to appear at Bristol Crown Court on June 3.

Married Judd was appointed as a councillor in 2007 and became Weston’s mayor between 2010 and 2011.

As a councillor he covered the North Worle area, was a member of Weston Town Council and was appointed vice chairman of North Somerset Council in May last year, before he stepped down from all of these posts in June 2013.