A lay reader at a Black Country church has admitted possessing nearly 43,000 indecent photographs of children.

Ralph Weaver also owned up to having a collection of over 1,700 moving indecent images of children when he appeared before Wolverhampton Crown Court.

The 63-year-old gas fitter, a leading member of the congregation at St Peters Church in Gornal, was remanded in custody for the preparation of a pre-sentence report until June 27.

Read the full story in today’s Express & Star.

A lay reader at a Black Country church has admitted possessing nearly 43,000 indecent photographs of children.

Ralph Weaver also owned up to having a collection of over 1,700 moving indecent images of children when he appeared before Wolverhampton Crown Court.

The 63-year-old gas fitter, a leading member of the congregation at St Peters Church in Gornal, was remanded in custody for the preparation of a pre-sentence report until June 27.

Mr Gurdeep Garcha, defending, told the court it was accepted that a custodial sentence of “some length was inevitable.”

Weaver of The Northway, Sedgley, admitted a total of 12 charges.

He admitted one charge involving the possession of a total of 42,718 indecent photographs of which 643 were from the most serious category.

Weaver also admitted possesssing 1,781 indecent moving images of children of which 354 were from the most serious category.