Southwark Crown Court

A SAVE the Children worker was told to expect a prison sentence today after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a child.

Sohail Ayaz, who was a member of an international paedophile ring, was arrested at the charity's headquarters earlier this year after Italian police discovered he had allegedly helped arrange the sexual abuse of 15 Romanian children.

The 35-year-old's home in Barking, east London, was searched and hundreds of child porn pictures and videos were recovered.

Some fell into the most serious level five category, which features bestiality and torture.

Further inquiries discovered the Pakistani national had also abused a young boy in another country that can not be identified for legal reasons.

London's Southwark Crown Court heard he had forwarded pictures of his activity with the youngster to a fellow paedophile in Britain.

Ayaz pleaded guilty to one count of penetrative sexual activity with the child, two of sexual activity with him, two of taking indecent photographs of him, and one of distributing them.

He also admitted two counts of possession - one involving 397 indecent pictures of children and the other 112 video clips, all of which he had collected through "file-sharing activities".

Remanding him in custody until 28 July for a pre-sentence report, Judge Peter Testar told Ayaz that prison was inevitable.

Ayaz, a qualified bookkeeper and accountant, first came to Britain in January 2008 on a two-year skilled worker's visa.

Last October, he applied for a clerical job at Save the Children's headquarters in Farringdon, central London. He started the following month.

But because his job did not involve access to children or confidential details about them, no checks were made with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) at Scotland Yard.

In the meantime, a police investigation into the activities of a Norwegian paedophile, which had started in 2007, had identified an Italian child abuser. Oslo police tipped off their Rome counterparts and a second inquiry began.

Detective Sergeant Nick Duffield, of the Met's paedophile unit, said: "The Italian investigation found Ayaz had supplied their national with the details of 15 Romanian children.

"It then emerged they had come from the suspect in Norway, who had told Ayaz he had contacts with people in Romania who could provide children for sexual abuse. He then supplied him with those details."

DS Duffield explained that as soon as they were told about Ayaz they launched an intensive surveillance exercise and alerted Save the Children officials.

"It was important to us that he, being a Pakistani national, didn't get any idea we had become aware of him, and disappear off to Pakistan.

"For that reason it was vital we arrested him somewhere we definitely knew he was going to be, his place of work. Save the Children helped us snare him."

He was eventually arrested at his desk on February 4.

"It was a case that has obviously shocked and horrified us as a children's organisation"

Ishbel Matheson, a spokeswoman for the charity, said: "It was a case that has obviously shocked and horrified us as a children's organisation. We really welcome the result today in court and the Met officers' efforts to get this man, who is obviously a danger to children, and take him out of circulation."