A lawyer's career is in ruins after he shared indecent images of a young girl and possessed images of a dog engaged in sexual activity.

Sohail Bashir began his career in Pakistan and later worked in immigration and family law in London before heading to Bolton.

Now at the age of 59 his career is in ruins after being found with the vile images.

Bolton Crown Court heard his IP address and Facebook profile came to the attention of a body in the United States who went on to tell the National Crime Agency about him.

Following this officers from GMP attended at his home in August 2020.

Multiple items were seized and on a mobile indecent images were discovered.

William Donnelly, prosecuting, said: “There were seven category B images found.

“One such image showed a girl who appeared to be aged eight to ten.

“That image was distributed in February 2020 on Whatsapp to three individuals.

“There were also 70 extreme images.

“One included a woman engaging in sexual activity with a dog.”

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Sohail, from Tudor Avenue, Farnworth, appeared in court to be sentenced after admitting distributing indecent images and possession of extreme images.

Mohammed Shafeeque, defending, said: “I would ask for full credit for the guilty plea.

“He has been married since 2004, they have no children, they are living together, they have no mortgage outstanding.

“He has been out of work since he was interviewed.

“His future is in the hands of the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority.)

Judge Nicholas Clarke KC said: “You have been involved in the law for many years, in Pakistan and then in this country.

“You qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and you have been working in immigration and family work since.

“I have no doubt that by committing these offences you will be losing your career.

“The distribution of such images causes incalculable harm to those people who are the subject of these images who become aware that the images are uploaded onto the internet.”

He suspended a sentence of six months for two years and ordered him to do 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He also place him on the sex offenders register and made him the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for seven years.