By Emer Scully For Mailonline
Published: 01:53 GMT, 27 March 2019 | Updated: 02:00 GMT, 27 March 2019
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A member of MI6 sacked for downloading child pornography on to his work computer had charges against him dropped, an inquiry was told.
Searches of material held by the Secret Intelligence Service revealed 'a small number of references to child sexual abuse', the Westminster strand of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual abuse heard.
An anonymous current employee of the Secret Intelligence Service spoke through video link on Tuesday.
He said pornographic material, including indecent images of children, was discovered on a computer used by MI6 staff in 2006.
The inquiry also heard how diplomat Sir Peter Hayman, who was named in Parliament as a paedophile in the 1980s, 'liked playing Father Christmas so he could dandle children on his knee'.
The Westminster strand of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse also heard how diplomat Sir Peter Hayman, who was named in Parliament as a paedophile in the 1980s, 'liked playing Father Christmas so he could dandle children on his knee'
'When this material was discovered, it was preserved and we conducted an internal investigation to find out which employee or employees might have been responsible for putting this material on the computer,' he said.
'We then passed the details of the material and the potential suspects to the police, the child protection unit, and a police investigation followed.
'This confirmed that the images were illegal and it identified the SIS officer who was most likely to have been responsible for downloading them.
'That individual was then dismissed from SIS and he was charged with two counts of possessing indecent
