A WALLASEY man has appeared in court accused of possessing more than 2,500 indecent images of children.

Leslie Ward, of Clarendon Road, is charged with nine counts of downloading indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of a child between February 13, 2010 and December 11, 2013 and one count of possessing 2,690 indecent images and moving images – 100 of them in the most serious category.

The 61-year-old, who spoke only to confirm his name and address, did not enter a plea during the short hearing at Wirral magistrates court on Friday.

As well as possessing 100 category A images, Ward is also said to have had 981 category B images and 1,609 category C images in his possession between July 11, 2006 and December 11, 2013.

Prosecutor Brian O’Connor and Ward’s defence solicitor Andrew McInnes both agreed the case was not suitable for magistrates to deal with.

Chair of the bench Peter Mawdsley said: “This is a very serious charge as you are aware and we are going to send it to the crown court.”

Ward will appear at Liverpool Crown Court for a plea and case management hearing on February 20, 2015.

He remains on conditional bail and must live and sleep at his address on Clarendon Road and not have any unsupervised access to children under the age of 18.