A Scout leader who was found with boys ' underwear under his bed and a cache of child pornography has walked free from court with just a community order after a judge said it was the best way to protect him from the public . Eliot Easterby , a former parish councillor and the author of 'teenage ' books , had hundreds of indecent images of underage boys stored in a hard drive and three memory sticks at his house . The 44-year-old from Hamble , Hampshire , also had a collection of child pornography DVDs showing young boys in paddling pools and a hidden stash of underwear left behind when he took young boys in Scouts trips . Eliot Easterby , 44 , was convicted of a string of child pornography offences after police discovered more than 600 indecent images and a haul of boys ' underwear at his home in Hamble , Hampshire . Following a major international operation which involved Canadian police Easterby was charged with a number of offences including the making of and possession of child pornography . Despite being convicted of 13 charges relating to boys aged eight to 15 he walked free from court with a community order . Sentencing at Southampton Crown Court , where jurors took less than an hour to convict Easterby of the charges brought against him , Judge Peter Henry said he felt it was the best way to both punish the man and protect the public from him . The former teacher and author walked free from court ( above ) with a community order . During an investigation which began with a tip off from Canadian police , officers discovered more than 600 indecent images at Easterby 's home . Around 300 had been viewed and deleted with another 374 downloaded and stored on memory sticks and a hard drive . A stash of child pornography was also found . Easterby , who denied all the charges , claimed the images were not of an indecent nature , a claim Judge Henry later rejected . 'You say you have no sexual attraction to boys . That is a matter of some concern because all the images of the boys linger on the area of genitalia , ' he said . 'These boys are victims , filmed for the sexual gratification of you and others . 'It is not a victimless crime . ' But with no evidence Easterby had had any sexual contact with the children he was spared jail . Instead he was sentenced to a community order , the 'best way ' of punishing him and protecting the public , the judge added . He was given a ten year prevention order restricting his use of the internet and was banned from having contact with boys aged under 16 without their parents or guardians ' permission . He was also placed on the sex offenders register for seven years and ordered to attend a sex offender treatment course . Easterby has written several books aimed at teenagers based on the ghosthunting adventures of two adolescent boys . He also taught at Sholing Technology College in Southampton . Another teacher from the college last month admitted owning child and animal porn . Jurors took just one hour to convict Easterby of 13 charges relating to child pornography at Southampton Crown Court ( above )
Eliot Easterby was convicted of 13 offences relating to child pornography . The 44-year-old is a former Scout leader from Hamble in Hampshire . Investigators found a stash of more than 600 indecent images at his home . He had hidden boys ' underwear left behind from Scout trips under his bed . Judge Peter Henry rejected his claim he had no sexual attraction to boys . But he walked free with a community order and told to attend a course .