Fresh threat to Reid over child porn case

JOHN Reid faced a fresh threat to his position last night after it emerged a child sex offender was spared jail because of the Home Secretary's desperate attempts to handle a crisis in English prisons.

Mr Reid has been coming under increasing pressure over the situation in English jails, which are full to capacity. This week, Mr Reid wrote to judges and magistrates asking them to imprison only the most dangerous criminals while he arranges more prison places.

Acting on Mr Reid's advice, a crown court judge in Wales yesterday decided not to impose a jail sentence on Derek Williams, who had earlier been found guilty of downloading dozens of pornographic images of children on to his computer.