A wedding photographer from Watford who claimed Hertfordshire police's pursuit of him over allegations of child pornography amounted to a "malicious prosecution" has failed in a damages bid at London's High Court.

Jeremy Clifford, 49, was accused of possessing and making indecent photographs of children and had the allegations hanging over him for 18 months before he was acquitted by a St Albans Crown Court judge in April 2005.

The images, discovered on a computer which had once belonged to Mr Clifford, from Louvain Way, were found in a temporary files folder and his lawyers insisted there was no evidence that he knew that the images were there.

Mr Clifford said that, as a result of his arrest, his business suffered and he was plunged into depression. He sued Hertfordshire Police, alleging both malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office.

At London's High Court on Friday, Mr Justice Cranston said Mr Clifford could feel "justifiably aggrieved" about the time taken to investigate his case, adding that it had taken so long because of a backlog in the Computer Crime Unit in Hertfordshire. But the judge said that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by the police, and said the evidence available justified charges being laid in July 2004, subject to an incorrect date in one of the counts.

The court heard that Mr Clifford was arrested in October 2003 following a US investigation into a website called Landslide, which provided both adult and child pornography.

During a police interview, Mr Clifford admitted paying for legal adult pornography on his credit card - but not via the Landslide website. He insisted that he had not downloaded child pornography. He said there had been fraudulent activity on one of his credit cards.

Later, child pornography images were discovered on a computer which once belonged to Mr Clifford, but experts said the images were stored in temporary internet files, and there was no evidence to suggest that those images had come from the Landslide site.

Mr Clifford's lawyers successfully argued during the criminal proceedings that those type of files are not strong enough evidence on which to base a prosecution, as they could come to be on the computer by way of "pop up" adverts, which the user may not even have realised were there.

At the High Court, barrister Leslie Thomas, for Mr Clifford, said Mr Clifford should never have been charged in July 2004 as there was not enough evidence to give rise to a "reasonable and probable" cause to prosecute.

However Mr Justice Cranston said that the charges laid in July 2004 - one which related to the Landslide site was dropped by the CPS in October 2004 - were lawful.

He added that the investigating officer was not told until December 2004 that the images were in a temporary file, and even then, said the judge, there was a "prospect" that further expert examination of the computer might provide evidence to support the prosecution.

Mr Clifford ran UK Professional Video Ltd, based in Shenley Road, Borehamwood, a video company specialising in wedding films and equipment supply.