David Selwood, 69, who was resident judge at Portsmouth Crown Court until his retirement earlier this month, admitted 12 counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing 63 indecent photographs of children.

The 75 images were deemed at the lowest end of the scale – level one – with five being at the worst end of the scale.

All the images were of boys aged between eight and 14.

The hearing at Bow Street Magistrates' Court was adjourned for pre-sentence reports and district judge Tim Workman warned that 'all options were open' when the court resumes on July 13 – and that could include jail.

In the meantime Selwood, 69, who was granted unconditional bail, was ordered to register as a sex offender at a local police station.

Selwood was snared by officers working on an operation to crack down on the massive worldwide paedophile network.

The court heard Selwood used a credit card to access child porn internet sites – and these sites were being monitored by police.

Following his arrest, Selwood was suspended from his £110,000-a-year job on full pay and was told he could not try cases until the police investigation was completed.

Selwood had been resident judge at Portsmouth Crown Court since 1996.

During his 12 years as resident judge at Portsmouth Crown Court, Selwood handled most of Hampshire's child porn cases which resulted from the high-profile police crackdown Operation Ore.