A FORMER bed and breakfast business boss who had 71 animal porn images on his computer has been spared jail.

Burnley Crown Court heard how John Turpin, 64, who has served in the Royal Air Force, told police he knew the pictures were illegal.

He denied getting any sexual gratification from the extreme images.

Turpin, who was found out by his former partner's son when he checked the business computer, had admitted three counts of possessing extreme pornography and had been committed for sentence by Pennine magistrates.

The defendant, of Langwood Court, Haslingden, was given 16 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, with a three-month curfew, seven days a week, between 8pm and 6am. He must pay £250 costs. Stephen Parker, prosecuting, said Turpin had been in a long-term relationship and the pair had been running a bed and breakfast together.

In May last year, the relationship broke down and his former partner’s son looked on the business computer, kept in the cellar, to remedy financial irregularities in the business which he believed the defendant was responsible for.

Mr Parker said the son then came across a number of images which caused him concern.

When interviewed by police, Turpin accepted the computer was his and he was the only person who had access to it.

Mr Parker said the defendant, who told police he had been in the RAF and attached to counter intelligence, told officers he knew what he had done was wrong.

The computer was examined by police experts who found a lot of the images were in the recycle bin.

Turpin was not a collector and he had no previous convictions, the court was told.

Sentencing, Judge Robert Altham said: “It seems to me that this is a sentence that ought to be suspended.

“The reasons that I am suspending the sentence are that you are somebody who is unlikely to commit any further offences “The fact of appearing in this court will be a highly salutary lesson to you.”