SICKENING pornographic photographs of children were distributed on the internet in a bizarre act of revenge.

Father-of-two Gerard William Entwistle admitted possession of an indecent photograph of a child and with distributing an indecent photograph of a child.

Entwistle told police a friend was being harassed on the internet by a woman in America who was sending him unsolicited messages and threatening to tell his wife they were having an affair.

He took the indecent photographs of children from a news group on the internet, altered them to make it appear they had been issued by the woman in the United States and then returned them to the same news group.

His plan was that people interested in that kind of material would then harass her, magistrates at Burnley were told.

Entwistle, 30, of Barden Lane, Burnley, was put on probation for two years and told he had narrowly escaped a custodial sentence.

He will be entered on the register of sexual offenders for five years. His computer equipment was confiscated.

Conditions of probation include residence only where approved by his supervisor and social services; not to live in a household with children without consent of the supervisor, that he should not contact children under 18 without consent and that he should not be employed with children either paid or voluntarily, including as a baby sitter. He will also have to attend group and one-to-one projects with the NSPCC and other organisations.

Sarah Statham, prosecuting, said the Internet Watch Foundation, the internet police, became aware that three indecent photographs of children had been posted (distributed) to a news group on the internet.

They managed to trace it to Entwistle's home address which he shared with his wife and two young children.

He admitted posting three indecent pictures of children which he said had sickened him. He wanted to get revenge on a woman in America who had been harassing his friend via the internet.

Miss Statham said the singer Gary Glitter had recently received a short term of imprisonment for simple possession of photographs.

The difference was that he had not distributed them on the internet as Entwistle had done and that was the aggravating feature of the case.

Dermot Woodhead, defending, said Entwistle had no previous convictions.

He worked in the computer industry and along with many of his friends had regular access to the internet.

A friend had been having difficulty with a lady in America who was harassing him on the internet by sending unsolicited messages on a regular basis. She threatened to tell his wife they were having an affair. Without his friend's knowledge Entwistle decided to give her a taste of her own medicine.

He set up his computer equipment to browse through certain news groups and then from the 3-400 images he chose three of children and one of a naked lady.

He altered the format to make it appear as though they had originated from the woman in America and then put them back into the same news group they had come from.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.