A SECONDARY school teacher and scout master obsessed with sadistic pornography featuring boys being spanked and caned was jailed for 10 months today.

Many of the thousands of illegal images and videos in bachelor John Fleck's possession were of children receiving corporal punishment, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

He was teaching at Severn Vale School in Quedgeley when he was arrested.

The material, collected over a 16 year period, was not only on Fleck's two computers but also on a collection of so-called 'naturist' DVDs - one of which, called A Century of Discipline, was a compilation of eight hours of child punishment scenes, the prosecution said.

The court heard Fleck, 53, had worked as a teacher and served as a scoutmaster for the last 28 years but there was no suggestion he had ever abused any of the children in his care in any way.

Jailing Fleck, of The Slade, Dursley, Glos, Judge Jamie Tabor QC told him it was a serious aggravating factor that he had held a trusted position in society with children in his care both at school and in the scouts.

"You were highly respected for a long time but you had a dark secret which the parents of those children you taught, or who they took to scouts, would have been absolutely appalled about," said the judge.

"Behaviour such as this undermines public confidence, both in schools and the Scouts.

"Every parent will now be asking this: 'Do we have a Mr Fleck in our school?'

"You have brought disgrace on the Scout movement and indeed the teaching profession."

Following Fleck's arrest he was sacked from Severn Vale School and removed from his post of leader of the 1st Dursley Scouts.

He pleaded guilty today to six charges of making indecent photographs of children between January 1998 and January 2014 and two offences of possession of indecent photographs on January 29th this year.

Prosecutor Janine Wood said an investigation into the sale of 'naturist' films from Canada led to police raiding Fleck's home because he had been identified as a customer.

Two computers and 29 adult films were seized during the raid.

Of the 29 adult films seized , 22 had illegal images on them, she said.

A computer tower in his loft was examined and had more than 4,000 illegal images and films on it, most of them at the least serious category C.

Another computer in his home contained more than 150 images.

"Fleck admitted to the police that he got aroused by the films and images and sometimes masturbated over the images of young boys," said Ms Wood.

"He said he would not hurt or harm young boys or touch them. He said he had never been attracted to a child in his care but did find children aged 10-14 attractive."

The film Century of Discipline featured physical chastisement of children aged 5-15 by adults and included caning and spanking naked bottoms, she said Det Con Ian Bennett of the Gloucestershire police child abuse investigation team told the court the Century of Discipline, described as a 'documentary,' contained eight hours of spanking of children without any commentary track. It included African tribespeople hitting their children with sticks.

Judge Tabor said he had read a pre-sentence report on Fleck which rated him as a danger to children.

Stephen Thomas, defending, said he accepted that the report made 'grim reading.'

But he said Fleck had been very candid with the police and had owned up to his offences at the first opportunity in court.

"He has never denied what he has done and he has never denied that what he did was wrong," he said.

"But when he went to school to teach children he went there to teach and nothing else. He never used or abused his position to take any indecent images of children. He has never used that position in order to get close to children for sexual gratification. He has never used his position to hurt, harm or abuse a child in his care."

He described Fleck as a very insular man with no close family.

At the time of Fleck's arrest Richard Johnson, headteacher at Severn Vale School, said he was "deeply shocked and disappointed."

"Mr Fleck was immediately suspended and his employment has since been terminated," he said.

He sent a letter to parents saying "We are deeply saddened to report that a former teacher at Severn Vale, Mr Fleck, has been charged with making and possessing indecent images of children and will be appearing in court.

"Please be assured that 'making' is not the same as 'taking' and images were 'made' by downloading from the internet, not actually taking the photographs.

"Our purpose in writing to you is to make you aware of the situation in view of the likely attendant publicity and to reassure you of the following: "A thorough investigation has been completed by the police of all the evidence and charges relate to online digital material. There is no suggestion of any concerns relating to students at Severn Vale Past or present.

"Our school's safeguarding procedures and processes are robust and effective. Nothing is more important to us than making sure our students are safe at school. Safeguarding is an absolute priority.

"When the allegations were brought to the school's attention, Mr Fleck was immediately suspended and his employment terminated.

"Throughout the investigation the school has fully co-operated with all agencies working closely with the police and the Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board.

"Given this is now a criminal matter and being dealt with by the courts it is not appropriate to comment further.

"Should you have any specific individual concerns please contact the school and make an appointment to discuss the matter."

A spokesman for the Scout Association said Mr Fleck was suspended from any form of contact with the movement as soon they were informed by police of the investigation.

"The Scout Association carries out stringent vetting of all adults who work with young people and requires them to work to a strict code of practice outlined in the "Young People First" Code of Practice," the spokesman said.