The case against a Gloucestershire police officer accused of downloading child pornography from the Internet has been dropped, the force investigating him has said.

Mark Winter, who serves with Gloucestershire Constabulary, was cleared of two counts of making indecent photographs of children and two further counts of attempting to produce indecent images of youngsters.

Warwickshire Police said the case against Mr Winter was discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service during an administrative hearing at Warwick Crown Court.

Mr Winter, who lives in Alcester, Warwickshire, had denied the charges following his arrest in October 2002.

The officer was arrested by colleagues from the Warwickshire force as part of Operation Ore, a nationwide investigation into illegal Internet pornography.

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