Green quits as pictures seized

A GREEN PARTY councillor has resigned from a London council after a police raid on his home in which indecent images of children were seized.

Paul Thomas, 38, stepped down when the chief executive at Hackney council demanded his resignation from the social services committee, which supervises children's homes.

Police raided Mr Thomas's home in Stoke Newington, north London, last Wednesday and took away computer equipment and photographs of children. He resigned his seat last Friday.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said a man had been released on police bail until April in connection with the distribution and possession of indecent photographs of children.

It is understood detectives were acting on a tip-off. It is not known whether Mr Thomas is alleged to have been part of a wider paedophile ring.

Kevin Saunders, a Green Party spokesman, said Mr Thomas is being treated for "a complete nervous breakdown". He has been suspended from the party pending the police inquiry.

Hackney is still trying to repair its image after the revelation two years ago that one of its social workers, Mark Trotter, had sexually abused six children in his care before he died of Aids.