A DETECTIVE from Basingstoke has played a key role in bringing to justice a paedophile who sold pictures of children being abused.

Detective Constable Neil Cussen's inquiry into car fraudster Alan Hughes unravelled a web of filth and deceit that led to the smashing of a paedophile ring in Hampshire.

Hughes, 36, was caught out after he tried to buy a car from a Basingstoke garage on hire purchase using a false name in January this year.

After officers arrested Hughes, they raided his rented room and a hotel room he used in Southampton, as well as a secure lock-up in Derbyshire where they uncovered more than 500 indecent images of children.

Prosecutor Christopher Parker told the court: "One of the prints had been printed twice, once on ordinary paper and once on glossy paper. Those were samples for potential recipients."

After questioning Hughes, police captured three other perverts who were part of the same child pornography racket.

Det Con Cussen - who was at Winchester Crown Court to see Hughes jailed for five years - said: "The initial investigation turned from one of fraud to something much more sinister. It was one of the worst cases of child pornography that I have ever seen.

"I had no idea that the case would take such a twist but I am delighted that we have managed to smash a big paedophile ring."

Detective Constable Steve Norcross, from Hampshire Police's paedophile unit, said: "Hughes was a major risk to the public - a seriously sick individual who was selling some of the most barbaric images of young children being abused."

Hughes, formerly of Elm Crescent, Hythe, near Southampton, pleaded guilty to two counts of making indecent photographs of children and 14 charges of possessing indecent photos with a view to distributing them.

As well as receiving a two-year sentence for those offences, the father-of-one was jailed for a further three years after admitting 11 counts of obtaining property or services by deception. He asked for a further 420 similar fraud offences to be taken into consideration.