A FATHER today spoke of his shock at finding pornographic images on a computer bought from electrical giant Currys.

Adam Bowater, 31, was horrified to find home video footage of a man performing a sex act and another of a woman in explicit sexual poses.

There were also links to X-rated chat rooms and a screen saver featuring a cartoon of a woman lifting up her skirt.

Today Currys apologised for the mix-up at its store near Whitebirk, Blackburn, and launched an investigation into how it happened.

Adam, a builder, of Cliff Street, Colne, and his wife Victoria, 26, got a new computer to help educate their two-year-old daughter, Katie,

He said the £1,299 PC was bought from Currys on August Bank Holiday weekend but was faulty, so he picked up a new one last Wednesday.

Adam said: "I knew straight away that they had given us a computer that had already been used because when we had the first, we had to load everything on to it and set it all up, but with this one everything was already saved onto it and appeared straight away when you switched it on.

"I was mad enough that they had given me a second-hand computer when I paid for a brand new one, but to find pornographic images on it as well is disgusting.

"We have got a two-year-old daughter and young nephews and nieces who come round to our house."

A spokesman for Currys said: "We deeply regret the embarrassment this will clearly have caused. We have apologised to Mr Bowater, who has now received a full refund for his purchase.

"We appear to have inadvertently supplied a PC returned to us by another customer. We do have very careful and detailed procedures for dealing with returned PCs but these do not appear to have been followed in this case.

"We are investigating as a matter of urgency to ensure that this does not happen again. Staff re-training could be involved because this is a very rare incident that should never have happened."

Det Sgt Martin Melvin, of Burnley CID, said: "I spoke to Mr Bowater about the situation. Selling a computer with pornographic images on it is not a criminal offence. I advised him to see somebody at Citizen's Advice because it seems he has been treated very badly. We would only get involved and investigate if there are allegations of illegal images, for example involving children."

Lancashire County Council trading standards officer Steve Brimble said: "From our point of view there could possibly be an offence under the Trade Descriptions Act if this gentleman has bought something described as new and it was not. There is no specific offence in terms of the fact that there were pornographic images on there but I would also advise people to thoroughly check what they are buying."