A FORMER headteacher and grandfather has admitted downloading extreme images of children being sexually abused.

Trevor Allen, who worked as an administrator at at Risedale Sports and Community College, in Catterick Garrison, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of making indecent images of children as young as nine at Northallerton Magistrates Court.

North Yorkshire Police arrested Allen at his home in Bolton Avenue, Richmond, in November 2012 after finding the images on his computer.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokeswoman said some of the images had been graded as amongst the most extreme by investigators.

A North Yorkshire County Council spokeswoman said Allen had worked at the Catterick Garrison school between 2004 and 2011.

She added: “The allegations came to light when Trevor Allen was no longer an employee at Risedale Sports and Community College and they do not relate to his time of employment at the school nor to any pupils, past or present.”

It is understood the 70-year-old, who has moved to Sussex, had a lengthy teaching career before retiring as the headteacher of a secondary school in Surrey in 2000.

After moving to North Yorkshire, he played an active role in numerous community groups, which are understood to include Richmond and Darlington operatic societies, Richmond Amateur Dramatic Society and Leyburn and Teesside Gilbert and Sullivan societies.

Allen, who has two daughters and three grandchildren, also served as clerk to the Company of Mercers, Grocers and Haberdashers of Richmond, whose members include Richmond MP William Hague.

A Richmond resident, who asked not to be named, said Allen had been a high-profile figure in the town and had been dubbed by some ‘Mr Richmond’.

Magistrates committed the case to Teesside Crown Court on May 23 for sentencing.