A former teacher has escaped jail after police found more than 20 images of child abuse at his home.

John Barnard, of Queens Walk, Harrow, was arrested in May last year after officers raided his home, when he immediately admitted there were images of child abuse – mostly of boys aged between 14 and 16 – on his computer.

Photos were also found in a chest of drawers, which he admitted he had printed off.

The 66-year-old, a former German and French teacher at Godolphin and Latymer school in Hammersmith, pleaded guilty at Harrow Crown Court to three counts of making indecent images of children and one charge of possessing indecent photographs.

A total of 118 images including 16 of the most serious category were found during the raid.

Barnard was sentenced on April 27 to a four-month suspended jail sentence and must attend 60 days of one-to-one counselling.

He was also made subject to a five-year sexual harm prevention order and must sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

The court was told Cambridge University-educated Barnard directed music for BBC Radio 2’s Sunday Half Hour, and had previously worked as deputy head at the John Lyon boys’ school, in Harrow, and taught at Aldenham School, Elstree.

He has also now been suspended from his role as head of choir at John Keble Church, in Edgware.