School man in dock on child porn

A school caretaker and tae kwon-do teacher who worked with hundreds of children in Walsall today admitted possessing indecent images of young schoolgirls.

Benjamin Rodgers was employed by Walsall Council until he was arrested when his girlfriend found dozens of images s on his computer.

Walsall Magistrates Court was told the 32-year-old had also taught martial arts to children at community centres in Bloxwich and Willenhall until recently.

The charges relate to the discovery of 32 images on his computer but there is no suggestion the images were of any children he came into contact with.

Rodgers, of Cannock Road, Chadsmoor, Cannock, admitted 11 charges of possessing indecent photo-graphs of a child.

The court heard how Rodgers was living with his girlfriend at their home in Wednesfield when she stumbled upon the images of girls aged between 12 and 14 on his computer.

She sent the pictures to a friend for a second opinion and they agreed to shop him to police.

Miss Siobhan Wilkins, prosecuting, said: "He's been a caretaker at a number of schools. He is also been a tae kwon-do teacher where he's taught children.

"These images were of a very disturbing kind of schoolgirls, aged between 12 and 14, which were classed at levels one and level two."

Mr David Nash, defending, said: "These were erotic images apart from one which was sexual. These were on the whole of the lowest level. He was not a prolific downloader of images. I think these offences should warrant a community sentence."

Rodgers is no longer working at schools and it was not revealed which schools he had been employed at.

Magistrates, who were told Rodgers had no previous convictions, adjourned the case until September 24 for reports.