A BIDEFORD businessman described by police as dangerous and predatory faces prison after being found guilty of child sex offences.

Chris Day, 37, of Moreton Park Road, was found guilty of downloading around 2,000 images of child porn and of sexually abusing two underage teenage girls.

Day, who runs a flooring company, put his face in his hands as the guilty verdicts were read out at Exeter Crown Court.

Judge Philip Wassall told Day he would be going to prison for his crimes. The only question was for how long.

He said: "It's actually relatively rare, despite the public perception, for people who download child pornography to go on to commit contact offences.

"That you have is a serious indicator. The fact that it was twice means I need to assess if you are a dangerous offender."

Day was remanded in custody to be sentenced on a date to be set.

He had pleaded not guilty to 13 offences of making indecent images of children, including some of the worst images possible.

He also denied two charges of sexual activity with a child and one of inciting her to engage in sexual activity, involving a teenager under 16.

The last charge involved encouraging a girl to text him naked pictures of herself.

Day pleaded not guilty to two other offences of sexual activity with a child, involving another teenager under 16.

Prosecutor Malcolm Galloway told the court Day was a respectable member of the community who lived a secret life as a predatory paedophile.

Police were alerted after an adult found some of the messages on one of the girl's phones.

Child porn was then discovered downloaded on several of Day's computers.

Day claimed someone else had access to his phone and must have sent the sexual text messages. He said he didn't recognise any of them.

He said his own messages to the girls were innocent and he had never touched either of them sexually.

Day also said unwanted child porn 'pop ups' had been displayed on his screen when he accessed legal adult porn sites.

He told the court several people had access to his computers.

He maintained that he had never deliberately downloaded any illegal images.

Defence counsel Richard Crabb said Day had known a custodial sentence was inevitable if convicted.

After the case Detective Constable Noel Bourke described Day as a dangerous, predatory and shameless individual.

He said Day took advantage of the vulnerable nature of his victims in order to carry out his wicked crimes and the public needed to be protected from him.

He added: "Until he acknowledges his crimes and engages with the rehabilitation he will be offered, he continues to pose a risk to young children.

"Predators need to be brought to justice and I would encourage anyone who is going through something similar to please speak up."