A Teignmouth man has been cleared of possessing indecent images of children after he proved that they were of former girlfriends aged at least 18 years old.

Jason Blatch had been convicted by magistrates over the pictures of girls – most of which showed them wearing swimwear and other clothes.

But at an appeal hearing, a judge took just 20 minutes to quash the convictions, ending a 30-month battle against the authorities which has cost taxpayers around £100,000 and had seen Mr Blatch put on the Sex Offenders' register.

Mr Blatch's lawyer Nigel Butt said after the appeal at Exeter Crown Court: 'This case has been pursued against Mr Blatch as if he is some sort of dangerous paedophile. This is ridiculous.

'He is a man who simply saved a few pictures of ex partners and people he had befriended on the internet, on his computer.

'The vast majority of the images showed fully clothed females.

'The sort of images we were talking about were the sort of images that appear as a matter of routine in magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair.

'I repeatedly made the point throughout the course of the case that if Mr Blatch were guilty of any offence, then so were the retailers that sell such mainstream magazines, as are all persons who buy them.

'The prosecution was seeking to persuade the court to apply Victorian standards in the 21st Century.'

Jobless Mr Blatch said: 'I have not found work since I was convicted because it would have been pointless when you have been put on the Sex Offenders' register.

'That has fundamentally affected my rights – even to form social contacts. All that was taken away for no reason.

'I have no bad feelings towards the police, but this is such a grey area and there is a very dangerous line that cannot be crossed.'

Mr Butt said it was 'always inevitable' that the case would end up before 'a sensible and competent court and that this conclusion would be reached'.

But he said the cost of the case against 43-year-old Mr Blatch, of Glendaragh Road, was more than £100,000, which caused the lawyer 'considerable astonishment'.

Police raided Mr Blatch's home in 2009 and seized computer equipment. He was charged with 27 counts of possessing indecent images of children.

Exeter magistrates convicted him of 20 of those charges in 2010 and he was given a three-year conditional discharge but placed on the Sex Offenders' register – until his appeal last week.

Mr Butt said at the original magistrates court trial that the prosecution claimed one of the girls was 11 years old.

But Mr Butt said: 'As luck would have it, Mr Blatch was able to trace this ex-girlfriend."

The baby-faced woman came to court and told the JPs that she was 18 years old when the photos were taken and that she was now aged 20.

The Totnes-based solicitor said after the appeal: 'The fact that Mr Blatch has been a registered sex offender for more than 12 months – something that has only now been rectified – and been hauled through the courts and been treated as though he is a sex offender is a matter of huge regret, especially given the fact that there were huge question marks over whether the fully-clothed images could ever realistically been viewd as indecent in any event.

'Notwithstanding the fact that no reasonable court could or should have ever reached the conclusion that they could be sure that the images depicted under age females.'

At the original hearing Mr Butt was not allowed to show the magistrates the best selling glossy magazines which had published topless and explicitly sexual photos of under age celebrities.

After the original verdict Mr Butt said: 'You can see more flesh exposed on a Friday or Saturday night in town or on a beach than was on my client's computer.

'The court has applied Victorian standards and their findings are perverse.'