A FORMER Weston mayor will appear in court facing a dozen charges relating to child sex abuse images.

Philip Judd, aged 59, of Worle, has been summoned to North Somerset Courthouse next month to face 11 charges of downloading indecent photographs of a child between September 2011 and May 2013.

The former Conservative councillor will also face one charge of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

He will appear before magistrates on May 9.

The former Weston town councillor exclusively told the Mercury his life has been left in tatters after a year of police investigations.

He said: “The past year has been a nightmare.

“The police investigation has been going on for 11 months and has left my life in ruins. I’ve lost my family and stepped down from the council, even before this goes to court.

“I will be open and honest with the court and make it clear, in the strongest possible terms, that I would never try to download child pornography.

“There’s a lot more to cases like this than just being innocent or guilty.

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.

Judd was also a member of the North Somerset south area planning committee, the adult services and housing policy and scrutiny panel and was the lead organiser for Weston’s Armed Forces Day.

During his time as Weston’s mayor he also launched the Heroes Welcome event in the town, along with members of the business community, which gave discounts to servicemen.