AN EMINENT NHS consultant found with 'abhorrent and perverted' images of children on his phone told police they were there because he was carrying out his 'parental responsibility', a court heard.

Plastic surgeon Mansoor Khan, a father of four who also coaches a girls' rugby team, claimed he had accessed the 'most revolting photos' due to 'protective curiosity' at what his children could find online.

The 54-year-old, whose children are now 18, 15, 12 and nine years of age, told officers he did not recall taking screenshots of indecent images - saying his phone set-up meant he took many accidental screenshots, jurors heard.

Mr Khan, who worked in two NHS hospitals, allegedly led a double life after 'giving into his dark side' and repeatedly accessing child abuse images on his mobile phone.

Read more: Salisbury surgeon had 106 child abuse images, court hears

The experienced surgeon, who specialises in reconstructive surgery, breast surgery, body contouring and 'facial rejuvenation' denies three charges of making indecent photos of a child between December 10, 2020, and August 24, 2021.

The three charges are separated by the severity of the images found, made up of 31 category A images – ranked as the most serious - 14 category B and 61 category C.

The trial at Salisbury Crown Court heard Khan had increased his workload after the death of his father in January last year - working up to 100 hours per week.

Due to returning home late, with the rest of his family in bed, Khan told the court he would 'flick through social media, stare at TV or go onto chat rooms'.

He said his understanding of chat rooms was they were for like-minded individuals to talk about subjects - such as 'rugby, fast cars and general sports chat'.

Asked why he had downloaded Snapchat, Khan told jurors: "The only real purpose was to try to see how it worked.

"I wanted to try to at least have a conversation with my children about what potentially could happen."

The court heard, when interviewed by police in February of this year, Mr Khan said: "I have my children of an age where they are getting on the internet, so I have started to explore what they would look at.

"Protective curiosity - I think that's the word. I thought I was doing my bit as a parent. It's all based on parental responsibility.

"I wasn't aware that looking at it was an illegal action. That's my naivety coming through.

"I did not ask for these images to be sent to me. I'm not interested in them. I don't go hunting for child pornography."

Giving evidence, Khan told the court he did not recall seeing images which he claimed were sent to him via chat forums.

After accepting a friend request from a stranger, Mr Khan told the jury the chat 'very quickly' turned to that of 'a sexual nature'.

"I received indecent images of children - I was disgusted by it, I made a comment 'this is horrible' and closed the app," he said, and insisted he had not scrutinised the pictures.

Asked why he later returned to Snapchat, he replied: "I didn't put two and two together, I assumed the same thing wouldn't happen again.

"It didn't occur to me, I thought the chance of it happening again would be so small."

Khan told jurors that when he received more indecent images of children, he 'assumed I was very unlucky'.

Police found several screenshots of indecent images had been taken by Khan - but he insisted he did not recall doing this deliberately.

The court heard he had his phone on a setting where screenshots were taken by swiping a hand across the screen.

"I found it was extremely annoying because I would take many, many, many accidental screenshots by rubbing my hand across the screen when my phone was unlocked," he said.

Khan insisted he was 'not aware' of any screenshots made on his device.

When asked why he then downloaded an app called Tor onto his phone which allowed him to browse the internet anonymously, Khan told jurors it was because he had 'no idea what it was' and wanted to 'be prepared for my children asking me' and 'pre-warn' them.

Khan admitted searching the term 'Lolita' as he 'didn't know' what it was, but said: "It was related to indecent images of children or child pornography... I closed the browser down."

Khan told jurors it was not true that he had a sexual interest in children and denied knowingly saving or searching for any indecent images of children.

The court heard Khan was happily married and regretted the situation he was in.

"This is a living hell, a nightmare. My regret is that I am associated with it which is simply not something I have an interest in," he said.

The trial continues.