A HAMPSHIRE judge being investigated over child porn allegations is set to retire this week with a massive pension pay out.

It is reported that Judge David Selwood QC will pick up a huge pension package worth up to half a million pounds on his retirement on Wednesday and could even scoop a further £82,000 lump sum due to ill health.

Officers swooped on the 69-year-old former army general's Winchester home on April 21 as part of a national crackdown on child pornography.

He was arrested and questioned by detectives before being released on bail pending further inquiries.

Because Judge Selwood has waited 12 years after he was appointed before taking his retirement it is believed he will net a full £36,000-a-year pension plus the mammoth lump sum.

This could bring his pension package soaring to almost £500,000 in ten years' time.

Judge Selwood, who is married to Barbara, with whom he had three sons and a daughter, is among 7,000 people under investigation after their credit card details were allegedly linked to an American child porn Internet site.

Judges convicted of an offence can lose their job and any right to a pension.

But it is reported that the Lord Chancellor personally approved Judge Selwood's retirement from Portsmouth Crown Court.

At his £550,000 four-storey home in Magdalen Hill, Winchester, Judge Selwood told reporters that his health and pension were 'nobody's business and that it was his own decision to retire: "I have been permitted to retire. I am not retiring early. I am 70 and not in very good health."

Judge Selwood has been a circuit judge in Hampshire since 1992 sitting predominantly at Portsmouth Crown Court but has presided over cases in Southampton and Winchester.

Having studied at the Law Society's School of Law he became a solicitor before going on to complete two years of national service and reached the rank of Major General in the British Army.