IT scandal caps a dark time for Derbyshire

The press release announcing the new name for Derbyshire's one-day side caused mayhem © Getty Images

A torrid few months at Derbyshire got even worse when their former IT manager and membership secretary John Grainger was jailed for eight months after child pornography was found on his home and work computers.

The news follows a Championship campaign that yielded only one victory in Division Two and the departure of chief executive John Smedley at the end of September by "mutual consent", after a period of sick leave believed to be brought on by stress.

Then a press release that was sent out in November announcing Derbyshire's one-day side's name change from Scorpions to Phantoms caused mayhem. Some recipients of the email, including the Daily Telegraph, received not one but 7,000 copies, clogging up their systems. All of this has reinforced Derbyshire's unwanted stereotype as one of the shabbier county clubs - a label that Smedley had worked hard to erase.

Grainger, 61, resigned from the club after his arrest. He admitted seven charges of making indecent pictures, three charges of possessing them and six charges of distributing them. Derby Crown Court heard that raids on his house and workplace in April 2003 uncovered 246 indecent images. Grainger initially said that some of the images were received via a virus and others were downloaded by his family. He later admitted sole responsibility and no proceedings were taken against his family following police questioning.

In 1981 Grainger was convicted of two charges of gross indecency with a child and a three-month jail sentence was suspended for two years. He has now been placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

"The club are absolutely making no comment on it, the matter has been dealt with and we are moving forward," says the chairman Trevor Bowring. "We have already taken the necessary measure to make sure that this never happens again." A spokesperson at the club said that a new chief executive would be announced on December 3 but Bowring insisted that a date had not been set and declined to reveal if a candidate had been selected.