RETIRED Lancashire police inspector Kenneth Hinchcliffe downloaded nearly 1,000 indecent images of children and stored them on discs.
Blackburn magistrates heard that the former bobby, who had 26 years' exemplary service, normally used the internet to research his interest in castles.
Hinchcliffe, 69, of Grasmere Road, Blackpool, pleaded guilty to five specimen charges of making an indecent photograph of a child.
Magistrates fined Hinchcliffe £1,000 with £65 costs, and ordered him to be put on the Sex Offender Register for five years.
Scott Ainge, defending, told the court that Hinchcliffe's understanding was that material was only indecent only if it depicted sexual activity, but his client accepted ignorance of the law is no excuse.
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