A WELFARE assistant hid a secret camera in a school toilet to film young children, a court heard.

Bolton Crown Court was told how a total of 25 children were identified in 57 separate videos made by Adam Curnock at Harwood Meadows Primary School.

Curnock covertly videoed the children as they went to the toilet, dressed and undressed in the room, and he even used a camera disguised as a pen to film up the skirt of a young girl as she sat on his knee.

Some parents who were sat in the court’s public gallery wept quietly as Colin Buckle, prosecuting, told how, over a 12-month period, 31-year-old Curnock would fix a wireless camera under the sink in the toilet using Blu Tack at the start of his shift, removing it again when he finished work.

He downloaded the resulting videos onto his computer, but the court heard there was no evidence that he had distributed them to anyone else.

When police raided his Harwood home on November 14 last year and took away large amounts of computer hardware, he admitted to officers that they would find indecent images of children.

Mr Buckle said he was granted bail, but two days later, after taking an overdose of pills and alcohol, he revealed to a mental health worker at the Royal Bolton Hospital that, as well as downloading child porn, he had been making videos of young children at the school.

Police initially found five videos of pupils, lasting up to 30 minutes and then a further 52 videos were identified, including one of footage taken up a child’s skirt when the girl sat on Curnock’s lap.

Curnock told police he had no sexual motive for the filming.

Mr Buckle said: “He went onto say it was the secrecy of spying that was gratifying.

“He said he stopped on occasion but curiosity got the better of him and he carried on.”

Mr Buckle added that Curnock, who has no previous convictions, had had a good relationship with the children and their parents.

He added: “It was an appalling breach of trust.”

The court heard that for up to four years Curnock had also been downloading pornographic images and videos of children, unrelated to children at the school.

A total of 1,076 of the most extreme category A images were found on his computer, including videos of children as young as four being raped.

A further 487 category B and 864 category C indecent images of children were also discovered.

In addition there were two obscene videos made using cartoon and computer generated images and an extreme pornographic film of a woman having sex with a horse.

Curnock pleaded guilty to voyeurism, making indecent images of a child, sexual assault of a child, possessing indecent images of children, possessing prohibited images and possessing extreme pornographic images.

Curnock, of Harley Avenue, Harwood, sat in the dock with his head bowed.

Virginia Hayton, defending, said that although filming up the child’s skirt was classed as sexual assault, she was unaware of it and he had not touched her inappropriately.

She added that he is genuinely remorseful about his crimes.

She said: “He knows sorry is not enough and will not satisfy those involved. He does not expect anyone to forgive him.

“He is aware that he has a problem and needs help in reducing any further risk to members of the public and children.”

She added that he expects to be jailed and had asked his family not to come to court.

She said: “He has brought significant shame upon himself and those he holds dear."

The Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Timothy Clayson, told the court he needed time to consider the evidence before passing sentence and adjourned the case until today.