Dismay, sorrow and anger has followed news that former Ledbury shopkeeper and charity worker Adrian Wilson has been convicted of smuggling and harbouring indecent pictures of children.

Wilson, now of London, but formerly of Church Street, where he owned the fine food store Truffles and Moore, was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court to a two-year conditional discharge.

He was also placed on the Sex Offender's register for five years.

Wilson had previously worked in Romanian orphanages and had carried out mercy-missions to war-torn areas of Eastern Europe.

In Ledbury, he was the local representative for the charity Bootle Relief Aid.

Seen as a pillar of the community, he was a keen member of Ledbury Amateur Dramatic Society and the regional representative of Camp America,

A friend, Peter Ball, of the Bandits Return design jewellery store in New Street, said: "I am a parent and a grandparent, and I despise anything to do with child pornography.

"But I am very concerned at the harsh pre-judgement he had. He was hounded out of town. I know he was abused and shouted at.

"If I had done one half of the charity work he has done, I would be very proud. I am very impressed with his calibre and I am proud to know him."

Steve Glennie-Smith trod the boards beside Wilson as a fellow member of LADS.

He said: "I am somewhat taken aback. I don't think he is a paedophile, it was curiosity. He was too trusting and that was his downfall."

In August, Wilson led a coach party of 35 people, many from Ledbury, on a trip to Romania to see the eclipse.

One of them, Mervyn Morgan, of Ross-on-Wye, made a point of attending where possible every court appearance by Wilson, up until this week's trial.

He said: "I wanted to reach my own conclusion. I think the outcome is fair. Had the coach load of decent people had any idea of his private life, they would not have associated with him.

"Certainly, no one is in any doubt that he associated with perverts. It all came out in court."