A former MP has appeared in court this morning and admitted downloading and distributing indecent images.

Labour's Paul Clark, who represented Gillingham for 13 years, pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images and six counts of distributing indecent images.

Medway magistrates heard how the 65-year-old, who gave his address as Melbourne Road, Wallington, Surrey, admitted the crimes when arrested by police, but during interviews with officers made no comment.

The court heard Clark was in possession of 298 category A indecent images – photos and videos – between April 2013 and May 2021.

He was also charged with being in possession of 415 category B images during the same period.

The court also heard he was in possession of 733 category C images.

During the short hearing, Clark spoke only to confirm his name, age and address, before entering guilty pleas to all the charges against him.

It was not revealed in court when or where he was arrested, but District Judge Peter Hayes heard details of the former MP's charges.

He was told Clark also distributed images of children on October 4, 2020, October 31, 2020, and again on December 4, 2020.

Some of these images were category A incident images. The judge was also told he also distributed a category C image in April 2021 and as well as category B and C images during the same month the same year.

His barrister, Ronnie Manek, told the judge his client would be now subject to a notification requirement because of his guilty pleas and would be signing on at a police station near his home.

Mr Manek also said Clark was of previous good character and faces a potential prison sentence.

District Judge Hayes told him he was sending his case to Maidstone Crown Court for sentencing.

He said: "You pleaded guilty to a number of offences at the earliest opportunity. I understand you made no comment to police during interview but did make admissions to officers upon your arrest.

"I am sending the case to the crown court to be dealt with as as the guidelines for these offences can't be imposed in this court."

He was granted bail until then and will be notified by the crown court of his sentencing date.

Clark represented Gillingham from 1997 to 2010 when he was defeated by current MP Rehman Chishti in the newly-formed constituency of Gillingham and Rainham.

During his time in office, he served as a parliamentary private secretary to major Labour Party figures including deputy prime minister John Prescott and education secretary Ed Balls.

In 2008, he was appointed a parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Transport.

He was Labour's candidate at the 2015 general election but was once again defeated by Mr Chishti. He decided not to contest the seat again.

Since leaving the role, it is understood he has worked in developing nations helping teach good governance.

His late mother Sheila, who died in 2018, was a former mayor of Gillingham.

Clark was in the news in 2018 when he spoke out about alleged sexual harassment at Westminster.

He felt thorough investigations should be held to get to the bottom of the problem.

He said: “If this happened in any other workplace you would go through a disciplinary process and the result would be dismissal, but there’s no process for getting rid of an MP. Who employs them? It’s the electorate – maybe legislation needs to be changed."

The Labour stalwart was a central figure when, during the 2005 general election campaign, he hosted Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

The two men – known to be feuding behind the scenes – put on a show of unity when they visited Medway and Blair was famously shown buying Brown an ice cream.