A PERVERT who fled Britain after police found 10,500 child porn pictures at his home was caught with the help of a Dutch landlord.

Dennis Bowskill, 44, absconded the day before he was due to appear at Burnley Crown Court in March to enter pleas to the allegations.

Instead of answering his bail, Bowskill, of Albert Street, Padiham, took a ferry to Calais before travelling to Holland.

But he was caught in a sting operation co-ordinated by Lancashire police after his wanted picture was discovered on the internet.

After skipping bail Bowskill, who told officers he was a Christian, had his photograph circulated to churches across Europe and child protection services. He was also featured on Crimewatch and ended up on a website, The Missing List.

The defendant, who yesterday pleaded guilty to 22 charges of making an indecent photo of a child and five counts of possessing an indecent photo of a child, originally stayed in Utrecht.

But he wanted to move to Amsterdam and after looking for accommodation on the internet emailed a landlord in the city.

The landlord looked him up on the search engine Google to check him out and found Bowskill was a wanted sex offender through The Missing List.

He then contacted Detective Constable Andrew Ashworth in East Lancashire, and a sting operation was arranged.

A Dutch police officer, pretending to be the landlord, went on to met Bowksill at Amsterdam Railway Station and he was arrested.

He was extradited, arrived back in England on August 17, but claimed he had amnesia and has been locked up since.

Yesterday police described him as a "very high risk sex offender".

Burnley Crown Court was told police found more than 10,500 images on his computer, between level one, the least serious level, and level five, the most serious.

Over 10,000 pictures were at level one and more than 500 were at level four. All the offences were dated from June 2007 to October 28 last year.

Recorder Michael Chambers, QC, told him the court might have to consider an indeterminate prison sentence.

He warned Bowskill the fact a report was being asked for did not indicate any particular sentence and jail was likely.

The hearing was told last October police went to Bowskill's house and recovered a memory stick from his computer, his computer tower and 700 DVDS and CDs. The defendant was convicted of taking indecent photos of a child in 1995 and was given probation.

Bowskill had been brought before the court on August 18, after arriving back from Holland and his barrister told the hearing the defendant claimed he had no recollection of being in Holland as he believed he had been hit on the head.

Bowskill alleged he could remember he was born locally, but could not recall which school he went to. The defendant admitted failing to surrender and was jailed for six months at the time.

DC Ashworth said Bowskill's arrest came about as a result of successful management by Lancashire Police and the offences came to light because of their intervention.

The officer said when they went to the defendant's house, his computer was on and as soon as he saw the police he was "very, very, nervous."

DC Ashworth said: "He is a very high risk sex offender. He was given the top level of supervision and at one point he was monitored on a weekly basis."

Bowskill was remanded in custody until October 29 for a pre-sentence report.