October 2011 Paedophile will not be welcome back in village A MAN has been told he is not welcome back in his South Gloucestershire village after admitting possessing more than 3,000 images of child pornography, a court heard. Anthony Short, 37, was caught by police after a work colleague found the images after asking to borrow his laptop. Police found child abuse images, including some in the most serious category five, as well as extreme pornography involving bestiality. Short, of Wotton Road, Rangeworthy, has been told that he is not welcome back in the village by the landlord of a local pub, and his brother has said he will not visit the family home if he carries on living there. Eric Waley, prosecuting at Bristol Crown Court on Friday, explained that Short was arrested because a work colleague, a Mr Halliday, who he had worked with for the last seven years, had found the images on his laptop. “The pair were working away in Great Yarmouth and were both staying at a Travelodge hotel,” he said. “He asked to borrow Short’s laptop so that he could use Facebook and found three folders on the desktop. “One was entitled ‘paedo’, and when he clicked on the folder he found the images of child abuse.” The court heard that Mr Halliday had once witnessed Short buying videos of animal pornography from a man in a pub and that Short had a nickname involving the word ‘paedo’ at work. Police raided the house in July and found printed out images of child pornography in Short’s bedside cabinet as well as in a box. Officers also seized four laptops, a computer and mobile phones. They found 3,446 images of child pornography – five in category five, 987 in category four, 582 in category three, 309 in category two and 1,563 in category one. Police also found 15 images of extreme pornography. Tabitha Macfarlane, defending, said Short had a “normal and functional” childhood, apart from his mother dying when he was young. “Aged 17 he inherited a large amount of money but unfortunately squandered it,” she said. “He got into thousands of pounds of debt and turned to drink to get away from reality. “He started watching pornography and this graduated to extreme pornography and child pornography. “He admits to having a penchant for girls aged four to early teens. “He feels ashamed and said he was ‘sickened’ that his viewing the images could have led to the exploitation of children. “He makes no effort to minimise or justify his actions and simply tells me ‘I want to cure myself’.” Ms Macfarlane pointed out that Short had already served three months in custody and would be homeless when released without his problems being addressed.