A POLICE officer is due before Bolton Magistrates Court charged with possessing child pornography.

PC David Brown, of Greater Manchester Police, is facing 15 allegations in relation to the possession of indecent images of children.

The force is also understood to be investigating more than 200 potential suspects after receiving information from the FBI as part of Operation Ore.

They are all suspected of subscribing to a website containing indecent images of children.

PC Brown has been charged under Section 160 of the Criminal Justice Act.

He is currently suspended from duty pending the outcome of the court case.

The officer is due to appear at Bolton Magistrates Court on Thursday.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said yesterday:

"We can confirm PC David Brown has been charged with 15 offences in relation to the possession of indecent pictures of children."

FBI investigators probing a massive porn ring known as Landslide found more than 7,000 British subscribers had used credit cards to pay for images.

Police established user's details from credit card records and passed on the information to British authorities.

The National Criminal Intelligence Service and National Crime Squad received the information and passed it on to each police force in the UK where there were suspects.

Greater Manchester Police is believed to be investigating more than 200 names.