A schoolteacher was this week warned he could face a prison sentence after pleading guilty to downloading indecent images of children on the Internet at home.

Christopher David Bench, 44, admitted six charges of making indecent photographs or pseudo photographs, and asked for a further 36 similar offences to be taken into account.

Bench was suspended from his job at the The Lakes School, Troutbeck Bridge, and has since resigned from his post.

Prosecutor Peter Kelly told South Lakeland magistrates the offences came to light following an investigation by the FBI in America, which passed information on to Cumbria Police.

Officers executed a search warrant at the defendant's home at Belle Isle View, Bowness, in September and seized his computer, the court was told.

It was sent for analysis by computer experts who recovered 42 indecent images, said Mr Kelly.

"It showed that he had been accessing websites that showed images of children being abused," Mr Kelly told the court.

"Some involved children who appeared to be as young as four to five years old, both male and female, being subjected to serious sexual abuse by both male and female adults," said Mr Kelly.

"Sometimes children with adults, and sometimes children with children."

Mr Kelly said that during police interviews, the defendant told police he had subscribed to a website entitled "17" and had done so as a "form of escapism."

He had also been given a password for the site and accepted he had been responsible for downloading the images found on his computer.

Bench was asked during interview which words he had entered into the search engine to find the sites, and he had replied "teen or a combination of words," said Mr Kelly.

The defendant was described of previous good character, having never been before a court before.

Justine Foden, representing the defendant, asked magistrates to give him credit for pleading guilty at the first opportunity, and co-operating with the police by making admissions during interview.

"The reality is Mr Bench is going to lose his good name, his character, his employment and his career," she said.

"He is a teacher and there will be obvious financial effects."

Mrs Foden explained that while she did not seek to minimise the defendant's involvement in the offence, she described it as " passive."

"This is the delivery of items into his own home by the Internet.

The degree of involvement required by the individual is very low," said Mrs Foden.

"He is genuinely remorseful and there has been no attempt by him to in any way distribute these images, or leave them in a place where they could have been viewed by anybody else at all."

Chairman of the bench, Michael Braithwaite, adjourned the case until November 26 for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

"We would ask that all sentencing options, including custody, be taken into account in the report," he said.

This week, the governing body of The Lakes School, and Cumbria County Council's education service issued a statement, which read: "Chris Bench has offered his resignation from his teaching post at The Lakes School, which has been accepted by the school's governing body.

"In view of the prosecution of Mr Bench the county council's education service will consider if any further action is necessary as regards alerting potential employers to the child protection issues raised by this case."

Spokesman Brian Hough said any decision would be based on the sentence imposed when Mr Bench appears in court.