Sydney - Police in Australia were red-faced on Thursday after inadvertently emailing child pornography to hundreds of New South Wales schools.

The "regrettable incident" followed the arrest of a man who had pornographic images of children in his possession. To identify the children, police intended to email doctored versions of the photographs showing the children's faces but accidentally sent the originals instead.

State Crime Command Assistant Commissioner Graeme Morgan said a computer error was to blame.

"Immediate steps were taken to recall all unopened emails and police have disseminated an urgent request that all unopened files be deleted and any images printed destroyed," he said. - Sapa-dpa