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An 11-month investigation by West Midlands police has led to two men being charged with distributing child pornography on the Internet.

The charges arise from a raid by police on the metallurgy department at Birmingham University following information on child pornography passed to them by federal authorities in the United States.

Alban Fellows, aged 26 of Moseley, Birmingham has been charged with 14 offences, eight under the Protection of Children Act 1978 and six under the Obscene Publications Act 1959.

Stephen Arnold, aged 24 of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire has been charged with four offences under the Protection of Children Act. The defendants will appear at Birmingham magistrates court on March 16.

The prosecution is seen as test case on what can be legally transmitted globally across the network from computer hosts.